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First Principles of 
Feeding Farm Animals 



A Practical Treatise on the Feeding of Farm 
Animals: Discussing the Fundamental Prin- 
ciples and Reviewing the Best Practices 
of Feeding for Largest Returns 



By 

CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT 

Editor American Agriculturist 

Formerly Professor of Agriculture in the New Hampshire and North Carolina 

Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and Director 

of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station 



NEW YORK 
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

LONDON 

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Limited 

1912 



A^^ 



Copyright, 1912. by 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

All Rights Reserved 



Entered at Stationers' Hall 
LONDON, ENGLAND 



Printed in U. S. A. 



'O 



PREFACE 

The fundamental principles of feeding animals 
are applicable to all parts of the country and to all 
parts of the world. For many years investigators 
have been at work on problems of nutrition and on 
interpreting the data obtained. As a result the 
student farmer has now at hand useful suggestions 
that will assist in handling the feeding problems 
of the farm to the best advantage. The man who 
feeds in a scientific manner is able not only to use 
his feeding stuffs more economically but he can 
obtain animal products more cheaply than can his 
neighbor who ignores the helps that science offers 
him. To these facts the author himself can testify. 
He not only has been a teacher of animal nutrition 
for many years, but has had a life-time experience 
also with the practical problems of feeding in feed- 
lots and stables. 

The volume herewith presented discusses the first 
principles of scientific feeding and aims to interpret 
them so as to be equally useful to student, stockman 
and farmer. In this presentation, the needs of the 
teacher of animal feeding have also been kept in 
mind at every step, the object being to set forth the 
several phases in pedagogical as well as utilitarian 
form. 

C. W. Burkett. 

New York, July, 1912. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Page 
The Soil, the Plant, the Animal 1 

How Nature is balanced — Plant food a small part of 
soil — Elements of plant and animal life — Elements are 
united — Cycle of life — The farm and the animals — Sup- 
ply of plant food — Poor grass, poor cattle — Soil im- 
provement and live stock — Role of the legumes — Nat- 
ural manures and fertilizers — Animals change raw 
materials. 



CHAPTER H 

What Feeding Stuffs Contain 13 

Plant cells — Building plant tissue — Starch — How plants 
use starch — Protein — Fat or oil — What plant building 
means — Ash or mineral materials — Water — Crude fiber 
— Grouping the plant constituents — What the plant has 
done — Elements and their symbols. 



CHAPTER HI 

How Food Is Digested 21 

Making ready for digestion — What is done in the mouth 
— From mouth to stomach — The compartments of the 
cow's stomach — Stomach secretion — From stomach to 
intestines — The two intestines — From intestines to blood 
— Villi cells — Respiration. 



CHAPTER IV 
Using Feeds for Best Results 29 

Digestibility little influenced by quantity — The individ- 
ual character of the animal — Digestibility decreases as 
plants mature — Shall grain be ground — Steaming and 
cooking food. 

vii 



Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

CHAPTER V 

Composition of Animals 36 

Combustible matter — Water — Range of variation of ma- 
terials — Principal ash constituents — Percentage of in- 
crease in fattening — Group constituents — What these 
compounds do. 

CHAPTER VI 

Food Nutrients 44 

Nutrients defined — Most feeding stuffs are unbalanced 
— Digestibility defined^How digestibility of a food is 
determined — First step is to obtain composition — Diges- 
tible nutrients — Correct rations are based on digesti- 
bility. 

CHAPTER VH 

Some Scientific Terms in Feeding 54 

The animal as a machine— Reducing fat to carbohy- 
drates — Determining the nutritive ratio — Wide or nar- 
row nutritive ratio — Balanced ration — Feeding stand- 
ards — Feeding standards only a guide. 

CHAPTER VHI 

The Computation of Rations 63 

Animal uses of food — Three kinds of rations — Mixed 
food — How a ration is made — Feeding for heavy milk- 
ers — Using the standard in practical work — What foods 
to choose. 

CHAPTER IX 

Basing Standards on Quality of Milk 75 

Haecker's investigations — The Haecker standard — How 
to establish a standard — Compared with Wolff standard. 

CHAPTER X 

Computing Rations on Basis of Starch Values 82 

Starch value illustrated — Relative starch values — How 
to obtain starch value — Actual starch value below calcu- 
lated starch value — Calculating starch values on basis of 
availability — Feeding stuffs with much fiber — Starch val- 
ues for all classes of stock — Feeding standards on basis 
of starch values. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS IX 

Page 

CHAPTER XI 

Using Energy Values for Computing Rations 93 

Feeding stufifs possess energy — Units of measuring heat 
— Waste of chemical energy — Energy values in feeds — 
Requirements for maintenance — Requirements for 
growth — Requirements for fattening — Requirements for 
milk — Requirements for work — Computing a ration for 
steers — Computing a ration for dairy cows. 



CHAPTER XH 

The Cost of the Ration 107 

The practical question — Two rations compared on basis 
of cost — Two rations for horses compared — Feeding 
stuffs vary in price — Easy to swap feeds — Use judgment 
in purchasing feeds — Grow the legumes. 



CHAPTER XHI 

Cost of Nutrients 117 

Bulk food should be home grown — Protein not solely 
purchased — Purchase of protein — On basis of total 
digestible nutrients — Using judgment in getting protein 
— Roughage materials. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Feeding Young Animals 125 

Food requirements of the young — Colostrum — Ration 
should be changed as age advances — Nature widens the 
ration — From whole to skim milk — Little trouble with 
suckling animals — Calf feeds — Feeding the dairy calf — 
Feeding the beef calf — The feeding of lambs — The 
feeding of pigs — Feeding the foal. 



CHAPTER XV 

The Feeding of Breeding Animals 145 

Feeding the dairy cow when carrying calf — At calving 
time — The brood sow — Exercise for brood sows — The 
brood mare — The ewe — At lambing time. 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

CHAPTER XVI 

Feeding Farm Horses 156 

Food requirements for horses — A fundamental principle 
in horse feeding — Nature of food — Character of food — 
Requirements for work — Giving water — Order of hay, 
grain and water — Regularity in feeding and watering- 
Roughage feeds for horses — Grain feeds for horses — 
Selecting the ration — Feeding the stallion — Fattening 
horses for market — Feeding mules. 

CHAPTER XVn 

Feeding Dairy Cattle 172 

Food requirements of dairy cattle — The milk-yielding 
function — How often to milk — What age of cow is best 
— What influences the quality of milk — Pastures are 
ideal basic rations — Feeding grain on pasture — When 
pastures are short and parched — Letting feeding stand- 
ards serve as guides — Producing milk economically — 
Protein requirements — Feeding dairy cows in winter — 
Nature of the food — Foods that all may grow — Avail- 
able green feeds — Grain and quality of butter — Feed- 
ing young dairy stock — During the first winter — Satis- 
factory grain mixtures — During the second winter — 
Stable management — Salt and water — The tuberculin 
test — The herd bull — The order of supplying the food — 
Some sample rations — For dairy calves, dry cows in 
summer, dry cows in winter, for cows yielding 16 to 25 
pounds of milk daily, for cows yielding from 25 to 40 
pounds of milk daily. 

CHAPTER XVHl 

Feeding Beef Cattle ._ 198 

Food requirements for beef — Wild cattle seldom fat — 
Good and bad beef stock — Character of a good steer 
— Two classes of beef animals — Nature of the ration — 
From calf to steer — Feeding calves intended for beef — 
The skim-milk calf — Calves on whole milk — Making 
veal — Feeding during the first winter — Finishing beeves 
under 18 ^ months — Baby beeves finished on grass — 
Beeves finished at two years of age — Objections against 
baby beef — Summer feeding on grass — Fall feeding on 
grass — Feeding full-grown cattle — Older steers are still 
marketed — Fatten the heifers early — Prominent feeding 



TABLE OF CONTENTS . XI 

Page 



Stuffs — Many kinds of roughage foods — Leading grain 
foods — Some sample rations — Maintenance ration for 
breeding cows — Winter yearlings with and without grain 
— Rations for fattening steers. 



CHAPTER XIX 

Feeding Sheep 223 

Food requirertients for sheep — Wool and mutton — Rela- 
tive economy of sheep, steers and pigs — Wide variety of 
feed for sheep — Choosing the feed — Roots always fine 
for sheep — Sheep require water — When turning to pas- 
ture — Proportion of grain to roughage — How often to 
feed sheep — Feeding corn in the field — Rape an excellent 
sheep feed — Roughage feeds — Temporary fences by 
means of hurdles — Putting sheep on full grain rations — 
Some of the best grains — Feeding lambs for market — 
Fattening grown sheep — Some sample rations for lambs 
weighing 50 to 60 pounds — For lambs weighing 60 to 80 
pounds — For lambs weighing 80 to 100 pounds — For 
sheep in winter — Sheep on full feed — For ewes with 
lambs at side. 



CHAPTER XX 

Feeding Swine 241 

Food requirements for swine — Hogs consume much and 
give generous returns — Fastest gains are made during 
early growth — Rations are narrow at first — Mineral 
matter and charcoal — Making a slop — Pasture for pigs — 
Grazing runs for hogs — Forage for cheap gain — Fatten- 
ing hogs — Making good bacon — Hogging off corn — 
Hogs as harvesters — Some sample rations for young 
pigs — For pigs three to six months of age — Pigs on pas- 
ture. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Feeding Farm Poultry 258 

Eggs chemically analyzed — Various rations required — 
Feed for little chicks — Weaned chicks on good range- 
Feeding larger chicks— Fattening the cockerels — Grain 
feed for fowls — Green feeds — Meat or animal feed im- 
portant — Grit is necessary — Hens in summer — During 
the molt — Feeding for eggs in winter. 



XU TABLE OF. CONTENTS 

Page 

CHAPTER XXII 

The Silo and Silage 277 

Economy in silage — Capacity of silos — Corn the best sil- 
age crop-— Essentials of a good silo — Calculating size of 
silo — Filling the silo — Feeding silage — Feeding silage 
after milking — Crops for silage — Cutting corn for silage 
— Building the silo — Get a solid foundation — Other types 
of silos — Hollow clay blocks. 

CHAPTER XXIIl 

The Soiling System 289 

Good pastures always popular — Rape supplements pas- 
tures — Soiling crops in favor — Soiling crops have a 
place — Alfalfa ranks first — Green corn for summer — 
Root crops not to be left out — Advantages of soiling — 
Smaller area needed — Fewer fences needed — Food de- 
stroyed by tramping — Less acreage required — Soil Im- 
provement more readily obtained — Objections to the 
practice of soiling — Suggestions for a soiling scheme. 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Relation of Food to Manure ^ 306 

Quality of manure — Value of farm manures — Double 
value in feeds — Selling fertility — Loss of fertility con- 
tained in feed — Poor manure — Why full value of fer- 
tility of feeds is not secured to lands — The full value 
of a feeding stuff. 

Appendix 317 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

l^ational Feeding Plus Rational Breeding Frontispiece 

Zross Section of Root Hair 2 

Stomata or Leaf Mouths 4 

Two Sources of Phosphorus 5 

Poor Cattle Often Indicate Poor Land 7 

Double Good from Soy Beans 8 

What the Fertilizing Elements Are Worth 9 

Zonverting Raw Material into Finished Products 10 

.4.0W an Animal Cell Divides 12 

Jnderside of a Leaf 14 

ptarch Cells 15 

leaf Cells 16 

jrrowing Plants Contain Much Water 17 

tlow the Sap Currents Move 18 

5tomach of Ruminant 23 

Blood Plasma 25 

^illi Cells 26 

How the Blood Circulates Through the Body 28 

3orn in Good Shocks 29 

!\ Steer that Was a Poor Feeder 30 

Making Good Hay Is a Fine Art 32 

From a Grain of Wheat 34 

Cheapest Gains Are Made with Young Animals 36 

Food Consumed During Fattening Period 39 

What an Animal Contains 40 

Cycle of Life 41 

Cowpeas a Rich Food 44 

Mineral Matter in Some Common Foods 46 

What Field Corn Contains 48 

What Corn Stover Contains 50 

He Had a Good Ration 52 

Nutritive Ratio of Some Common Feeding Stuffs 55 

xiii 



XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Balancing the Ration Improves It 58 

When the Feeding Period Is Extended 59 

Timothy Not a Balanced Food 64 

Mixing Their Own Ration 65 

Heavy Milkers Require Big Rations 71 

Where Science Helps to Fatten 73 

It Pays to Give the Right Feed 76 

Dairy Cows Should Be Fed Milk-Stimulating Rations 78 

Typical Steer for Feeding 84 

Alfalfa Ready for Cutting 87 

Laboratory Where Food Values Are Determined 94 

Revealing Facts About Digestion 97 

Mature Steers Nearly Ready for Market 101 

Oats and Peas Are Excellent for Hay or Soiling 108 

Converting Corn into Coin 114 

Remarkable Leghorn and Her Achievements 118 

The Newly Born Require Colostrum 125 

Young Calves Should Be Kept Steadily on the Gain 128 

Gathering up What the Steers Drop 131 

Ready for Their Breakfast 133 

Beef in the Making 135 

Bred for Beef 136 

Thrifty Lambs Follow Good Care and Wise Feeding 138 

Large Litter of Vigorous Pigs 140 

Resting in the Pasture Field 142 

An Inexpensive Colt Creep 143 

Too Fat for Good Breeders 145 

Feeding Box for Alfalfa Hay 149 

A Portable Hog House 150 

Making Pork from Rape 151 

Rounding Them up in the Pasture 153 

Well Bred and Well Fed 157 

Equal to Any Task 159 

Showing Them Off 162 

Exercise Necessary Even on Farms 164 

Stallion for Farm Use 168 

Horses Sell Best When Fat 169 

The Milk-Yielding Function Exemplified 173 

A Clear Case of Dairy Type 175 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV 

Page 

Dairy Cows Thoroughly Contented in Pasture Field 178 

Matrons of the Dairy Herd 180 

An Inexpensive Covered Barnyard 183 

Turned Out for Exercise 185 

Silage One of Best Dairy Feeds 186 

Picked Out for the Dairy 189 

Water Available All the Time 192 

A Bunch That Topped the Market 196 

The Same Cow, Side and Rear 199 

A Beef Steer of High Quality 201 

Rough Feeders 202 

Selected for Baby Beef 204 

Good Veal 205 

Baby Beef 207 

Prime Steers 209 

Herd of Angus in Middle West 210 

Cattle on Alfalfa 213 

Familiar Scene on the Stock Farm 214 

Feeding Beef Cattle in the Open 216 

Champion Steers 218 

Track Contrivance for Feeding Cattle 220 

The Pasture Is Good and the Sheep Are Satisfied 224 

Sheep Range in the Northwest 226 

Temporary Pastures Best for Sheep 229 

Sheep on Rape Pasture 231 

Out at Pasture ^ 234 

Ready for Market 235 

Poor Way to Feed Sheep 237 

Bunch of Hogs Ready to Be Slaughtered-—^ 242 

They Ate Much and Developed Rapidly 244 

Very Sanitary and Very Costly 246 

Legume Pastures Ideal for Pigs 247 

Plan of Grazing Runs for Hogs 249 

Enjoying the Charcoal Box 251 

Getting Their Rations in a Portable Pen 252 

Hogging Off the Corn 254 

Business Flock of Light Brahmas 259 

Green Feed 260 



XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Combination Hopper for Field or Yard Use 261 

Leghorn Flock at Range 263 

Crate Feeding for Fancy Market 265 

Protected Feed Trough 266 

Feed Hoppers Filled from Alley 266 

The Double-Yarding System 268 

Interior of Well-Arranged Poultry Pen 269 

Feed Hopper 271 

Feed and Work house of Large Poultry Farm 272 

Open Feed Trough for Fowls at Range 273 

Mixed Flock Eating Grain 275 

Neat Silo for Long Service 277 

Harvesting the Silage Corn 280 

Filling the Silo 286 

Concrete Silos _ 287 

Hauling Soiling Crops to the Barn 290 

Wheat a Good Soiling Crop 292 

Alfalfa the Best SoiUng Crop 293 

Barnyard Millet a Heavy Yielder 295 

Crop of Cowpeas and Kafir Corn 297 

Crimson Clover for Soiling 299 

Either Too Much or Too Little 306 

Removal of FertiHty 312 

How Farm Manure Is Wasted 314 



CHAPTER I 
THE SOIL, THE PLANT, THE ANIMAL 

How Nature Is Balanced. — The soil, the plant, 
and the animal represent the three great fields of 
agricultural activity. They are dependent upon one 
another, each giving to, or receiving from, the others 
the things vital to its very existence. Without a 
soil, there v^ould be, of course, neither plant nor ani- 
mal life ; without plants there could be no animals ; 
and without plants or animals there would be a use- 
less, if not a barren soil. 

The three divisions of nature have come in natural 
order. First, the soil ; then tiny plants, that were 
succeeded in time by other plants of a higher form, 
to which animals welcomed themselves, satisfying 
their appetites and nourishing their bodies with 
what they secured as food. Soil is food for plants, 
the plant is food for animals, and the dead animal or 
plant is food for the soil. 

Plant Food a Small Part of Soil.— The whole of 
the soil is not plant food — only certain elements : 
chemical elements, we call them. In all nature there 
are 8i known distinct substances or elements. They 
are called elements because they represent distinct 
substances not one of which can be broken up into 
two or more other distinct substances. Common 
table salt is not an element, since it can be separated 
into two elements, sodium and chlorine. Neither 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



sodium nor chlorine can be divided into two or more 
substances, and hence each is a fixed unit or sub- 
stance, known by the term element. 

Of the 8i elements to be found in the world only 
12 enter in the life of plants and animals. These 12 
are very important because they are positively 

necessary to 
plants or animals. 
They are the very 
basis of life. The 
body of the ani- 
mal is composed 
of the elements 
found in plants, 
yet the plant must 
grow in order to 
make it possible 
for the animal to 
grow. From the 
air and the soil 
our cultivated 
plants gather the 
chemical elements 
together, and with them build plant tissue. By 
means of roots, the soil is searched in every direc- 
tion for soluble plant food, and this is drawn into 
the plant. The leaves in the air, also at work, entice 
into their being the floating carbon which, trapped 
and held, is mixed, as it were, by means of cellular 
life with the soil elements that have been carried 
into the plant in the soil water. As a result com- 
pounds are formed, the cells enlarge and increase. 




Cross Section of Root Hair 
Soluble plant food is carried into the plant 
through root hairs. These are very small. 
The part pictured here is greatly magnified. 



THE SOIL, THE PLANT, THE ANIMAL 3 

the plant becomes bigger. It grows. In other words, 

the plant, by feeding on soil and air, is enlarged 

through growth. 

Elements of Plant and Animal Life. — The ele- 
ments that enter into plant and animal growth are 

the following: 

Iron, an element of universal use. All soils contain 
it. 

Calcium, a yellowish metal, abundantly found in 
limestone soils. 

Potassium, a whitish metal and soft. It is called 
potash when united with oxygen. 

Sodium, soft and light, and when united with 
chlorine forms ordinary salt. 

Magnesium, is white in color and a hard metal. 

Aluminum, looks like silver and is very hard. 

Silicon, a substance earthy in appearance and, next 
to oxygen, the most abundant element in the 
earth crust. 

Sulphur, associated with nitrogen in the protein 
compounds. 

Phosphorus, soft and yellow, often lacking in cul- 
tivated soils. 

Chlorine, a colorless gas which, when united with 
sodium, forms common table salt. 

Hydrogen, the lightest known substance, a color- 
less gas. United with oxygen it forms water. 

Oxygen, a colorless and abundant gas. One-fifth of 
the air, one-half of the earth's crust, and 
eight-ninths of the water of the world is 
formed of it. 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Carbon, a principal substance of plants and animals. 
It is found in soil and air. Animals give it off 
in breathing and plants take it in through 
their leaves. United with oxygen it makes 
carbon dioxide of the air, the principal source 
for plants to get their supply. 
Nitrogen, a gas in its free state. Both plants and 
animals require it, and four-fifths of the air is 
composed of it. 

Elements are 
Unite d. — F e w of 
these elements ex- 
ist in the soil in a 
free state. Two or 
more have united. 
In this association 
they exist as com- 
pounds. Thus nitro- 
gen, potassium and 
oxygen united form 
potassium nitrate 
(KNO3) ; and hydro- 
gen and oxygen 
united form water 
(H2O). So, through- 
out the world, various combinations of these ele- 
ments are found and are known as chemical com- 
pounds. 

Cycle o£ Life. — The elements here described as 
essential to plant growth are needed by animals also. 
But animals neither can gather them from the soil 
and the air, nor would it be possible for animals to 




Stomata, or Leaf Mouths 
As seen under the microscope on the 
underside of the leaf. Carbon through 
the stomata is admitted to the plants in 
the form of carbon dioxide or carbonic 
acid gas. 



THE SOIL, THE PLANT, THE ANIMAL 5 

use them if they could. Obtained in the form that 
plants utilize they would be poison to animal life. 
Nature's way is different. Plants grow: which 
means they feed on the element compounds. But, 
young or mature, these same plants are food for .ani- 
mals. The elements, by means of the plant cells, 
have been worked up into plant tissue ; and as such 
animal forms of life are sustained. 

The animal cannot feed from soil and air direct. 



IPP^I 


n 






in 


9 


lliiHillj 


■ 





Two Sources of Phosphorus 

In the early days bones were gathered for fertilizing. The Indians used 
fish. Today the phosphoric acid of fertilizers is secured largely from 
ground bone or finely ground phosphate rr 

It is necessary for the plant to take these elements 
and build them into tissue first. On this plant tissue 
the animal feeds. After the animal dies, with its 
decay and decomposition, come the changes of 
animal tissue back to soil and air — back to the 
original materials they go again, as they were before 
the time when captured by roots and leaves and 
made into plants. But once back in soil and air the 
same story is repeated: another capture is made by 



6 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Other roots or leaves, that new plant tissue may be 
made for another generation of animal life. 

It is in this manner that the plant grows out of 
the soil and the air, the animal out of the plant, the 
soil out of the animal. The animal when living 
contributes active supplies, and when dead both 
humus and mineral ingredients are returned to the 
soil ; the soil thus reinforced favors the new plants 
now growing in it; and the new plants, now more 
abundantly nourished, more effectively take care of 
the animals. Thus we have the cycle of life: from 
the plant is fed the animal ; from the animal is sus- 
tained the soil ; from the soil is nourished the plant. 

The Farm and the Animals. — The best system of 
agriculture is based upon good crops and well-bred 
live stock. With these to be possible the follow- 
ing propositions must always be kept in mind : 

1. The soil must be rich in the simple elements of 

plant food, that there may be an abundance 
of farm crops. 

2. The farm crops must be adapted to their cli- 

matic and soil environments so as to produce 
from the elements in the soil the largest 
growth of desirable plant life for animal 
food. 

3. Superior farm stock must be raised in order to 

produce cheaply the maximum quantity of 
high-quality meat and milk or wool and labor 
with the least expenditure of food. 
Supply of Plant Food. — The farmer, to make agri- 
culture remunerative, must adapt his work to what 
falls within these lines. He must enrich the soil. 



THE SOIL^ THE PLANT, THE ANIMAL 7 

He must aid nature in her efforts to maintain the 
present supply of plant food, to increase it, and to 
make unavailable plant food available so as to be 
assimilable to plants. After death of plant or 
animal the plant food contained in these organic 
forms is still unusable by plants until decay and 
decomposition have done their work. In a like 
manner the soil itself holds locked-up plant food in 




Poor Cattle Often Indicate Poor Land 

If soils have been intelligently tilled and manured they produce good 
pasture and profitable crops. These in turn furnish appetizing and nutritious 
feed for the rapid development of farm stock. If the grass is scanty live 
stock will reflect the condition of the land. 



its Storehouses. The farmer's work is to find the 
key that will unlock this plant food. Shallow plow- 
ing, removal of organic matter, carelessness in till- 
age, excessive water, bad bacteria, all unite in mak- 
ing soils hard, dead and lifeless, and when so made 
they refuse to release their soil-food possessions, 
a condition that either prevents plant growth alto- 
gether; or, if not that severe, in so lessening the 
vigor as to give a crop of small worth. 



8 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Poor Grass, Poor Cattle. — If the plow be turned 
loose in these soils, and the land be drained and 
limed and carefully and intelligently tilled and cul- 
tivated ; at the same time if organic matter be added 
by means of stable manure, legumes or green crops, 
the soils will quickly change from their unproduc- 
tive condition into the other state that produces 
remunerative crops. When the soil is poor the 




Double Good From Soy Beans 

This magnificent crop of soy beans will be a blessing to both soil and 
animals. They enrich the land and provide a feeding crop of the highest 
excellence. 



crops are poor; when the crops are poor the 
animals are poor; when the animals are poor the 
soils are poorly nourished. 

Soil Improvement and Live Stock. — The ideal 
agriculture maintains itself. Every system of farm- 
ing should consist of both plant production and 
animal feeding. The importance of this is seen 
from the following : 

I. Clover, cowpeas, alfalfa and other legumes 
are needed to build up the soil. These, together 



THE SOIL, THE PLANT, THE ANIMAL 9 

with the cereal crops, are the very kinds of plants 
we want for horses, cattle, sheep and swine. They 
should be grown, and especially the legumes, to im- 
prove the soil ; which done there will follow larger 
yields of grain, forage and grass crops that, either 
directly as money crops, or indirectly as feeding 
crops, will make larger the total farm returns in 
money or production. 



4.- 
5- 

,1 


MILK 


FAT STEER 


FAT HOG 


WHEAT 


TIMOTHY 


COTTON MEAL 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 






■ 
- 
















iZOr 
















*25.J 
















$20r 

















What the Fertilizing Elements Are Worth 

The drawing shows the money value of the fertilizing materials of several 
farm products in a ton of each substance. These should be considered in 
connection with the commercial worth of each product. 



2. Natural manures and fertilizers are needed for 
improving the soil. The more live stock there is 
on each farm the greater will be the quantity of 
manure made, and hence a less amount of pur- 
chased fertilizers will be required. The fertilizer 
bill is a great farm tax. A part of it would be un- 
necessary ^f business-like fax-ming were followed. It 
should be a set policy to purchase as much of the 



10 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

fertilizers as possible in the form of feeding stuffs. 
Take a dollar and get cottonseed meal, gluten, bran 
or tankage, but instead of applying these direct to 
the soil as sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potassium, first feed them to live stock to get the 



(I 




Converting Raw Material into Finished Products 

Dairy cows are excellent machines for converting the rough products of 
the farm into human food. 

value of the organized nature of the elements as 
feed. Then, this accomplished, the resulting 
manure v^ill provide plant food for the land. 

The important difference between plant food or 
fertilizers and animal food or plants is in the fact 
that plants take the unorganized chemical elements 
and manufacture or build or organize them into 
living tissue, which is the plant or the fruit of the 



THE SOIL, THE PLANT, THE ANIMAL II 

plant, and as such is the food of the animal. Feed 
the plant or its fruits to live stock and get meat or 
wool or milk or labor from the organized tissue; 
then let the animals return these, now disorganized 
and broken up, back to the soil, in manure or ex- 
crement, so as to get a new growth of plants. By 
letting live stock prepare the plant food you gain 
in both ways. 

3. The animal changes raw materials into fin- 
ished products. The feeder can take corn, grass, clover, 
bran, gluten and other feeding stuffs and from them 
compound balanced rations for all classes of live 
stock. These are simply raw materials, and as 
such command low prices if placed on the markets 
of the world. An increased value follows their 
change into a finished product. A dairy cow, fed a 
mixture of 25 pounds of corn stover, clover hay, 
wheat bran and gluten, worth a few cents, will 
produce butter or milk worth many cents. The in- 
creased value is the result of the change from the 
form of raw materials into a finished product at 
once usable as food for human beings. 



CHAPTER II 
WHAT FEEDING STUFFS CONTAIN 



How Plants Grow. — Plants get their food from 
the soil and the air. When supplied abundantly 
with food, and surrounded by favorable conditions 
like warmth, moisture, sunlight and an agreeable 
soil free of weeds and insect enemies, they grow 




A B C 

How AN Animal Cell Divides 

Here is shown nuclear and cell division. The letters A, B and C indicate 
the successive stages. The region of the nucleus is a; cytoplasm or pro- 
toplasm, b; and the beginnings of the daughter nuclei, c. The letter d shows 
how the original cell has divided internally into two, each with a large 
nucleus. (After Guignard.) 

rapidly and produce bountifully. Their method of 
using food is much different from that of animals ; 
and their digestive system is of another order. 

Plant Cells. — A plant is formed of myriads of 
cells. These increase in numbers as the plant 
grows larger. Stated in a simple way, the cell is an 
inclosed sac within whose walls are the juices and 
other substances required for growth and develop- 

12 



WHAT FEEDING STUFFS CONTAIN 1 3 

ment. The cell walls are made up of a woody sub- 
stance called cellulose. In green and growing 
plants this cellulose is thin and tender, but as the 
plant matures it becomes hard and woody. 

The roots, trunk, leaves and all other parts of the 
plant are formed of cells. Plant food in the soil is 
made soluble in soil moisture, and by means of the 
cells comprising the roots the soluble substances 
are sucked in and carried in water to all parts of 
the plant. The process by which this is done is 
known as osmosis. The soluble plant food left in 
the cells as the water passes along is met by the 
carbon that has also been passed into the cells, not 
through the roots, however, but through the leaves, 
and thus brought together all building materials are 
at hand for the manufacture of the plant compounds. 
The master builder is the protoplasm tucked away 
in the cells. No one knows just what protoplasm 
is, but it represents life, without which there could 
be no growth. 

Building Plant Tissue. — The building work is 
done in the plant cells, within whose tiny walls the 
compounds are formed. These cells within which 
this process is going on are either enlarged them- 
selves or else the compounds are used for making 
new cells. Every live, active cell contains proto- 
plasm, the life principle. Herein is contained the 
vital spark that makes all growth possible. 

Starch. — When the soluble soil material or plant 
food has been carried up through the long channel of 
cells and reaches the leaves, it is brought in contact 
with the carbon dioxide that has been pulled into 



14 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



the leaf through the little mouths on the undersides 
of the leaves. There these various compounds are 
upset and disintegrated through the action of heat, 
sunlight, protoplasm and chlorophyll, with the result 
that a grain of starch is made out of the water and 



CARBONIC ACID 




CARBONIC ACID 



Underside of a Leaf 

When studied under the microscope the underside of a leaf appears as 
sketched above. The letter a shows the stomata or mouths, and b the cells 
of the leaf. 



carbonic acid gas. Some of these starch grains are 
changed by protoplasm into sugar, which, being 
readily soluble, soon is transferred by diffusion from 
cell to cell and left in those cells that need it the 
most. 

How Plants Use Starch. — Starch is not the life 
substance of the plant, but helps to make it. It is 



WHAT FEEDING STUFFS CONTAIN 



15 



necessary, because not only more life substance is 
required as the plant grows larger, but because in 
one kind of work that the plant does some of the 
life substance is used up. Not all of the starch, 
therefore, remains as originally formed; some of it 
is assimilated along with other foods taken up by 
the roots, and living material is made. 

Protein. — The 
formation of the 
p r t ei n constit- 
uents is more com- 
plexthan the 
formation of 
starch. In a gen- 
eral way it may be 
said that starch or 
some starch deriva- 
tive is united in the 
cells with nitrates 
and sulphur that 
have been brought 
into the plant from 
the soil. The liv- 
ing matter, or protoplasm, then breaks up the 
litrates in the active cells, uniting them in some 
kvay with starch, with the result that a protein com- 
pound is formed. 

Fat or Oil. — Oil is made out of the same chemical 
elements that enter into the building of starch 
grains. Both are formed of carbon, hydrogen and 
Dxygen. In the oil compounds there is a larger 




Starch Cells 

This is the way the starch cells from potato 
tubers look when seen under the microscope. 



i6 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



number of the carbon and hydrogen units in prO' 
portion to the oxygen than in the case of stare 
While all plants contain some oil or fat in thei 
woody tissue, the great bulk of it is deposited in 
seed or the fruit. 

Protein differs in composition from oil or stare 

in having nitr 
^Q£"^i gen and sulphi 

in addition to cai 
bon, hydrogen ani 
oxygen. 

What Plan 
Building Meansl 
Before the simple 
elements are 
taken into the 
plant they are of 
little value. No 
animal can use 
them as food ; 
they cannot be 
burned to furnish 
heat ; and they 
store up no en- 
ergy to carry on 
any of the world's 
work. What a 
change the plant 
makes of them ! Without value in soil and air, these 
elements when taken into the plant and built into 
tissue at once become of vast importance. They be- 
come the source of all animal food, and, constructed 




Leaf Cells 

How the cells from the interior of a leaf 
look when seen under the microscope. 



WHAT FEEDING STUFFS CONTAIN 



17 



into vegetable life, supply the human race with most 
of the essential things for comfort, life and food. 

Ash or Mineral Materials. — Starch, oil and pro- 
tein are not the only constituents found in plants; 
ash or mineral matter is found in every form of 
plant life. This is observed when any vegetable 
material has been burned. The organized condition 



FEEDING STUFF 


TOTAL POUNDS OF WATER IN 100 POUNDS OF SUBSTANCE 


5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 


GREEN CORN 

CORN SILAGE 

CORN STOVER.FELD CURED 

DENT CORN 

PASTURE GRASS 

RED CLOVER 

RED CLOVER HAY 

TURNIP 

WHEAT, GREEN 

WHEAT STRAW 

WHEAT, GRAIN OF 

WHEAT BRAN 

APPLES 

POTATOES 

SKIM MILK 






P- 




■i_ 




= 









Growing Plants Contain Much Water 

Several common feeding stuffs are here compared to show the large quan- 
tities of water they contain. Note the change when harvested and cured 
as dry provenders. 

is destroyed, but the ash remains. In green plants 
or fodder or the vegetables the minerals are always 
at hand, and when eaten by man or beast they go 
to form bone, teeth and other tissue structures of 
the body. In most feeding stuffs sodium and 
chlorine are lacking, but the deficiency is corrected 
' by the artificial supply of common salt. Poor teeth, 
small and weak bones in children and domestic 
animals result when an insufficient amount of ash 



i8 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



CARBONIC ACID 
OXYGEN 



or mineral material is furnished in the food. A 
variety of food, including coarse fodders and the 
legumes, makes it possible to supply the mineral 

materials in abun- 
dance. 

Water is found in 
all plants, even in 
those dead and air- 
dry. Young grow- 
ing plants contain 
much, often three- 
fourths or more of 
their weight. Do 
you wonder now 
why water in the soil 
is so important for 
the production of 
good crops? The 
plant not only must 
have the water, but 
the only way it can 
make use of it is to 
carry it into the 
plant through the 
roots. 

Water serves as a 
How THE SAP CURRENTS MovE carrlcr of plant food 

The unmanufactured sap current taken thrOUgh the rOOtS tO 
into the plant through the roots moves up- 
ward, while the manufactured product of eVCry part of the 
the leaves moves downward. . 

plant. It IS to the 
plant what blood is to the animal. Some people 
think that dew or rain on the leaves is of value to 




WATER AND 
MINERALS 



WATER AND 
MINERALS 



WHAT FEEDING STUFFS CONTAIN I9 

the plant. But is it? The mission of the water 
is to dissolve plant food in the soil and when in 
solution to get it into the plant. Surely a heavy 
dew on a crop of corn dissolves no plant food in 
the earth, and certainly carries none into the plant. 
Dew, then, is not a means of feeding the plant. 
What water the plant gets is obtained, as has been 
explained, from the soil by means of the roots. 

Crude Fiber serves as a framework of the plant. 
It is to the plant what bones and skeleton are to 
the animal. It is made of carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen, the same elements that go to form starch. 
Immature and young plants are tender because the 
crude fiber is tender; as the plant matures, the fiber 
hardens and toughens, as we find it in hay and 
corn stover and trees. 

Grouping the Plant Constituents. — When the 
chemist analyzes plants he finds many kinds of 
compounds. He finds that while there is a physical 
difference, the chemical elements are invariably 
united in definite combinations producing definite 
compounds. For the sake of convenience the plant's 
constituents may be grouped as follows : 
I. Ash. 
II. Water. 

III. Protein or compounds containing nitrogen. 

IV. Nitrogen-free compounds or compounds 

containing no nitrogen. 

1. Starch. 

2. Crude fiber. 

3. Sugar, gums, etc. 
V. Ether extract, or oil or fat. 



20 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



What the Plant Has Done. — The relation between 
soil and plant is now apparent. The soil elements 
have been taken into the plant. From now on they 
lose their individual identity and, united in various 
ways, they now become organized compounds. 
They are no longer carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, 
but starch or sugar, or oil ; or, if nitrogen and sul- 
phur are added, they become protein compounds. 
The plant has now fulfilled its destiny and is ready 
to be used as food for the support of animal life. 

Elements and Their Symbols. — For the sake of 
brevity the symbols or letters representing the 
various agricultural elements are often used, and 
for the purpose of becoming acquainted with them 
the list below is given : 



O — Oxygen 
H — Hydrogen 
N — Nitrogen 
C — Carbon 
CI — Chlorine 
Na — Sodium 
S — Sulphur 



P — Phosphorus 
K — Potassium 
Mg — Magnesium 
Al — Aluminum 
Fe — Iron 
Si — Silicon 
Ca — Calcium 



CHAPTER III 
HOW FOOD IS DIGESTED 

Making Ready for Digestion. — Digestion is more 
than chewing and swallowing. Both of these are 
important, but they are only the beginning of a 
complicated act that has to do with every con- 
stituent taken into the mouth as food, regardless 
of its nature, whether of vegetable or animal origin. 
Before the several ingredients composing the plant 
can be used as food they must be prepared for ab- 
sorption into the system of the animal. This prep- 
aration takes place in the mouth, the oesophagus 
tube, the stomach and the intestines. Throughout 
the process various secretions are supplied to make 
assimilation and absorption into the system pos- 
sible. 

What Is Done in the Mouth. — When food is 
taken into the mouth, it is masticated by the teeth. 
While this is going on there are poured into the 
mouth large quantities of saliva, which soften and 
soak the foods and start digestion. The active 
principle of saliva is a soluble ferment called ptyalin 
that converts the starch into sugar. One authority 
states that the saliva of a horse will convert raw 
starch into sugar in 15 minutes. The organic mat- 
ter contained in this secretion is formed by the cells 
comprising the structure of the salivary glands. 

A large amount of saliva is soaked up by the food. 
This is often expressed as being as much as one- 

21 



22 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

tenth of the weight of the animal. Colin states that 
84 pounds is secreted by the horse and 112 pounds 
by the cow in a single day. As a matter of fact, 
the nature of the food greatly influences the flow, 
although the control rests with the nervous system. 
The ferment of the saliva is inactive in young 
animals. It bears a close relationship to the de- 
velopment of the teeth. Starchy food, therefore, is 
not desirable for newly born farm animals nor for 
the human young. While bread, potatoes and other 
soft food of a starchy nature are frequently, if not 
commonly, given to children, it can be only to their 
hurt, for the reason the teeth slowly develop, thus 
failing to provide the ferment to prepare the 
starches for digestion, although moisture is 
naturally secreted by the glands. 

From Mouth to Stomach. — The food, after being 
ground and mixed with the saliva, is forwarded to 
the stomach. Horses, hogs and humans have a 
single stomach compartment, while cows, sheep and 
goats have a different arrangement, embodying four 
divisions. With the former the stomach is com- 
paratively simple. It is a single sac not capable of 
holding a large quantity at one time. On the other 
hand, in the ruminants, the family to which cattle and 
sheep belong, the stomach is large, and capable of con- 
siderable extension. The capacity of the stomach of the 
average horse runs from three to four gallons, and 
of the cow to as much as 50 gallons or more. 

The Compartments of the Cow's Stomach are 
known as the rumen, or paunch, the reticulum, the 



HOW FOOD IS DIGESTED 



23 



omasum, and the abomasum. The last is the true 
digestive stomach, the others are largely storage 
places for the saliva-mixed food. The first of these 
compartments is very decidedly a storing place 
where the food is placed until it is thrown back to 




STOMACH OF RUMINANT 

The four main divisions of the ruminant's stomach are pictured here. The 
first three divisions are the storehouses for food until it is prepared for the 
fourth or true stomach. 



the mouth for further mastication. This act, or 
cud chewing, refers to rechewing the food so as 
to get it finer and better ground for digestion. The 
food, on leaving the mouth the second time, is 
passed through the rumen into the reticulum, then 
to the omasum and finally into the abomasum, or 
true stomach, where digestion is continued. 

In the first compartment, or rumen, a churning 
process is carried on continually. Some think this 
division of the stomach is never wholly empty. An 
alkaline fluid is furnished here, as is the case also 



24 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

in the second compartment. Food in the third com- 
partment is subjected to a squeeze which dries it, 
forcing the extracted juices into the true stomach 
or fourth compartment. 

Stomach Secretion. — The stomach of every class 
of animals is lined by two kinds of membrane: one, 
similar in nature to the lining of the oesophagus 
tube, and the other that 'admits of secretion. These 
do not form a double coat but one blends into the 
other. The section giving ofif the secretion is 
known as the villous coat. It extends to the poste- 
rior end, and to the point where the small intestine 
joins with the stomach. 

While in the stomach, the saliva continues the 
digestion of the starchy matter, and is assisted by 
the gastric juice that pours in from the stomach lining. 
This secretion has three constituents, acid, rennet and 
pepsin. The pepsin is a ferment, its work being to 
split up the protein compounds. The rennet is also 
a ferment, which assists in the digestion of milk. 
There is much of this secretion in calves. The 
gastric juice converts the protein substances into 
peptones. 

The mucus glands of the stomach secrete mucin, 
a substance that lines the walls of the stomach, at all 
times. 

From Stomach to Intestines. — The constant 
churning movement in the stomach causes the food 
to travel from the entrance to the exit, the small 
intestine. Up to this time there has been no ab- 
sorption of the food into the body. Nor is diges- 



HOW FOOD IS DIGESTED 



25 



tion yet complete. When the partly digested ma- 
terial or chyme leaves the stomach' it passes into 
the duodenum, one of the three parts of the small 
intestine, and is subjected to further action of other 
digestive juices. Here the bile, the pancreatic and 
intestinal juices are admitted to complete the work. 
The bile, dark green or brownish in color, is se- 
creted by the liver and acts in conjunction with the 




Blood Plasma 

This shows blood plasma passing out of the capillaries to feed the cells. 
It is there taken up by the lymph vessel. 



pancreatic juice. The pancreatic juice, alkaline and 
watery, is secreted by the pancreas, or "sweet 
bread." The bile acts as a bowel regulator when 
the liver is active and healthy. The pancreatic juice 
has a treble function : it is able to change starch into 
sugar, protein into peptones, and the oils into fatty 
acids. The intestinal juices perform similar work. 
The Two Intestines are not only important for 
storage purposes, but in them, particularly the 



26 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



smaller, the real digestive act, the absorption of the 
nutriment in the food by the blood, takes place. 
Up to this point, although the fluids have been at 
work, there has been little if any active absorption 
into the system. The food up to now is in 
a sense outside the body; and there is no entrance 
or opening for it to get into the body, save through 
the cells that line this part of the digestive tract. 
In a way similar to that by which soluble plant food 

is admitted into the 
plant roots through 
the cell walls, so is 
the digested food, 
after it has been 
broken up and made 
soluble, absorbed 
through the cell 
walls of the intes- 
tines into the blood 
system of the ani- 
mal. 

From Intestines to 
When food 
is absorbed it is ad- 
mitted either to the 
capillaries of the blood or to the lymphatic system. 
If collected by the capillaries the absorbed food 
is carried to the portal vein, thence to the liver 
and finally to the heart, where it is poured with 
the blue blood as it is brought in from all parts 
of the body. At this point the blood contains 



I 




1 



Villi Cells 
Section of intestine showing villi, 
a, arteries; fe. 



parts are as follows 

c, villi cut open to show lacteal (Z), and 
blood tubes; d, glands; m, muscle; v, 
veins; and w, wall of intestine. 



Jl-;! Blood. 



HOW FOOD IS DIGESTED 2J 

both nutriment and the waste or broken-down mat- 
ter of the body. The part of the absorbed food 
that enters into the lymphatic system is carried to 
the thoracic duct, which extends along the spinal 
column, and enters one of the main blood vessels. 
The lymph is blood without the red blood corpuscles. 
It wanders to all parts of the body, surrounds all 
the cells in all the tissues and carries to the cells the 
very kind of food they most need. 

Once the food gets into the circulatory system it 
takes the regular course of the blood. In impure 
blood it goes to the right auricle of the heart, 
then to the right ventricle. This in turn contracts 
and forces the blood into the lungs, where oxygen 
is taken on and carbonic acid gas and other impu- 
rities are given ofif. From the lungs the blood, now 
red and pure, passes into the left auricle, and thence 
into the left ventricle, from which it is forced into 
the aorta, to be distributed to all parts of the body. 

Villi Cells. — The digested food in the intestines is 
gathered in by the villi cells. The mucous mem- 
brane lining the small intestines possesses highly 
differentiated structures that appear as minute 
fingers. These tiny, hair-like projectiles reach into 
the intestinal mass for sugar, peptones and fatty 
acids, which they transfer, through the cells, into 
the absorbent vessels or lymphs that in turn empty 
the assimilated stores of food into larger and still 
larger vessels. This process continues until the 
whole of the nutritive fluid is collected in the cir- 
culatory system to become the very basis of the 
blood. 



28 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Respiration. — When the impure blood passes 
through the lungs, carbonic acid gas and other 
impurities are held back and in breathing are ex- 
haled and thrown out of the system. At the same 
time oxygen is taken in with great greediness by 
the cells of the blood, which distribute it where 
needed in all parts of the body. When plants are 
growing, oxygen is released and thrown into the 




DISTRIBUTION ^N^/q 
OF CAPILLARIES IN 
HEAD AND ANTERIOR 
EXTREMITIES. 



How THE Blood Circulates Through the Body 



The blood is collected from the body and delivered into the right auricle, 
which on contracting, forces the blood into the right ventricle; this in turn 
contracts and forces the blood into the lungs, where oxygen is taken on and 
carbonic acid gas and other impurities are thrown off. From the lungs the 
blood is returned to the left side of the heart and distributed through arteries 
and capillaries to all parts of the body. 



air. At the same time, by means of leaves, the car- 
bonic acid gas is drawn in and used in the construc- 
tion of the plant compounds. This was got from 
the air. The animal, in performing its functions 
and in building its tissue, inhales oxygen from, and 
exhales carbon dioxide into, the air. Thus it is that 
animals use what is waste to the plant and the 
plants use what is poison to the animal. 



CHAPTER IV 
USING FEEDS FOR BEST RESULTS 



Foods Must be Appetizing. — Plants are most 
liked when young and tender. They are then agree- 
able to the taste and induce a maximum consump- 
tion. At this stage of growth little woody tissue 
has developed, the juices are abundant, the sub- 
stances are freely acted upon by the secretions, and 




Corn in Good Shocks 

Corn may be preserved for a time in shocks in the field. If left until 
winter, rains and snows cause rapid deterioration and great loss of feeding 
value. 

the largest amount of nutriment is absorbed into 
the system. Feeds that are unappetizing and dis- 



30 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



agreeable to smell or taste will be rejected, or if 
eaten at all will be only to satisfy hunger. The good 
feeder endeavors to tempt the taste and increase the 
appetite of his animals, that the largest possible 
consumption of food may be had to secure the 
quickest and largest returns. 




A Steer that Was a Poor Feeder 

Scrub animals as a rule are not good feeders. Pure-bred animals render 
a much better account of what they eat. 



Since growth can result only from the food con- 
sumed, it follows as an undisputed conclusion that 
light feeding will retard development. Hence, not 
only good food must be provided, but much food 
also. Many a feeder owes his success to his ability 
to get before his animal a bountiful ration that is 
both wholesome and nutritious. Hunger may make 



USING FEEDS FOR BEST RESULTS 3 1 

his animals partake of almost any kind of food, but 
nothing he can do will induce these same animals 
to eat a disagreeable or unappetizing food heartily 
enough to get a response much beyond their main- 
tenance needs. Growth and production are invaria- 
bly associated with well-flavored and appetizing 
food, even though they add nothing to the energy 
or nutritive value of the food. 

Digestibility Little Influenced by Quantity. — 
Ordinarily digestion is but slightly influenced by 
big appetites. Heavy eaters are usually the most 
profitable animals. Fed to their full capacity they 
give as good an account of their food as when lim- 
ited to half feeds. Food is digested and assimilated 
just as completely in full as in half-filled stomachs. 
The most rapid growth, or the largest milk flow, is 
to be had when the animal is permitted to eat to its 
full capacity ; and this is another reason why the ration 
must be palatable and attractive to taste and smell. 

The Individual Character of the Animal undoubt- 
edly afTects the proportion digested. Armsby has 
found that a pure-bred animal of superior breeding 
renders a better account of its food than a scrub. 
Of two animals supplied with the same feed, one 
will often persistently digest a larger proportion 
than the other. Often very greedy eaters show very 
poor fattening qualities. 

In young animals the digestive power is appar- 
ently equal to animals of mature age. 

Digestibility Decreases as Plants Mature. — All 
classes of plants show a striking diminution in 



32 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



digestibility as they approach maturity, and this is 
very equally spread over all the constituents. The 
composition varies also, and for the same reason. 
Hence, no fixed nutritive value can be ascribed to 
the hay and fodder crops except in a general v^ay. 
The young plant is always the most nutritious. The 
superior fattening quality of a pasture, as compared 




Making Good Hay Is a Fine Art 

Hay often is improperly made. If cut late it is less nutritious and appetiz- 
ing. If soaked with rains, or the finer parts are lost .by bad treatment, the 
feeding value will be decreased. 



H 



II 



w^ith that of the hay made from it, is clearly due to 
the fact that on land continuously grazed the animal 
is fed entirely on young forage, v^hile hay v^ill * ■ 
largely consist of the mature or nearly matured x| 
plants. If hay making is carefully carried out in 
good v^eather so the finer parts are not lost by bad 
treatment, or the soluble matter is not w^ashed out by 
rain, the digestibility v^ill not be diminished consid- 
erably. 



USING FEEDS FOR BEST RESULTS 33 

Every kind of hay should be cured in the shock 
before being placed in the mow; otherwise it may 
become brown by heating and the digestibility of the 
protein and soluble carbohydrates be diminished. 

Early cut hay is richer in protein and contains 
less crude fiber than that cut late. The increased 
weight, due to the longer growing period, chiefly 
develops cellulose. As the plant ripens the more 
nutritious compounds move into the seed, and leave 
the food part of hay less valuable. The best time 
for cutting hay is when the plants are in blossom; 
the nutritious compounds at this time are dis- 
tributed throughout the plants, and there is cor- 
respondingly less woody tissue. * 

Shall Grain Be Ground? — Many grain feeds in- 
crease their digestibility if they are ground. Corn, 
oats, wheat and other grains often are so hard that 
if passed into the stomach without mastication the 
digestive juices fail to do their full duty. While this 
is a true and an unfortunate condition, it does not 
always follow that it is good business management 
to grind these feeds. Experiments show that when 
corn, for instance, is ground the returns are in- 
creased from 8 to 15 per cent; yet the labor of haul- 
ing to and from the mill or of grinding the grain at 
home may mean a loss in the end. 

This factor must be determined by each individ- 
ual, for no cut-and-dried rule will apply. The cus- 
tom of following cattle and horses with pigs to pick 
up the undigested grain or other food is both wise 
and profitable, and satisfactorily meets this condi- 
tion. 



34 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Steaming and Cooking Food. — A great many de- 
vices have been placed on the market for the prep- 
aration of feeding stuffs for live stock. The labor 
and expense connected with the practice is usually 
unwarranted and uneconomical. 

What Most Influences Digestion. — Feeding farm 
stock is a gentle art. The old adage, ''the hand of 
the master fattens the flock," is a clear expression 
of the intimate relation that should exist between 




From a Grain of Wheat 

Traverse section near the outside of a wheat grain. The letters show the 
following: a, the husk (pericarp, integuments); b, cells with protein gran- 
ules; c, starch cells. (After Tschirch.) 



the feeder and the animals in his charge. Two men 
may provide the same feed for two lots of live stock, 
similar in kind, and far different results will be ob- 
tained at the end of a given period. The one studies 
his individual animals, knows each as if by name, 
takes an interest in its progress, endeavors at all 
times to help in case of mishap, and actually en- 
courages, as if to induce greater endeavor. The 
other feeds the stock and lets it go at that. 



USING FEEDS FOR BEST RESULTS 35 

This personal touch is of great importance, and 
includes everything involved in the preparation of 
feeds that the highest digestibility may be secured. 
Rough treatment, bad quarters, irregularity in feed- 
ing, usually in themselves will overbalance the ad- 
vantages gained in attempting to influence digesti- 
bility and larger consumption through better prep- 
aration for easier mastication, or through appeal to 
the taste and appetite. 

The good feeder is a good judge of stock. He is 
careful, cautious, and habitually regular; endowed 
with virtues of patience, perseverance, and good 
common sense, he treats his animals as though they 
were children in a schoolroom. He watches every 
detail ; if a slight change or modification of method 
is necessary, he sees that this is effected at once. 
He meets all contingencies as they arise, calmly and 
without excitement. Above all, he possesses a 
refinement of manner and disposition that causes 
his animals to know and love him. Thus they will 
repay in more willing labor or in more milk or in 
cheaper beef, pork or wool. Herein is the real secret 
of feeding the animals of the farm successfully. 



CHAPTER V 

COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS 

Combustible Matter. — Animals are often de- 
stroyed by fire ; they possess, therefore, combusti- 
ble materials. These consist largely of the nitrog- 
enous substances, and the fats, both of which are 
present in the frame, tissue and other organic por- 
tions of the body. In the skeleton, or frame, three 
classes of substances are formed — protein, gelati- 



AGE OF STEERS IN RESPECT TO COST OF 100 POUNDS GAIN 


CALVES 

ONE YEAR OLD 
TWO YEARS OLD 
THREE YEARS OLD 


AVERAGE 
WEIGHTS 


AVERAGE COST IN DOLLARS OF 100 POUNDS GAIN 
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 


397 

ION 
1226 


^^^^^^^1 











Cheapest Gains Are Made with Young Animals 

As animals advance in age the cost of food for maintenance and increase 
advances also. Compare the four classes of cattle as sketched above. 

nous matter, and horny matter. Of first importance 
is the protein, which forms the greater part of the 
muscular tissue, the various organs, the material of 
which the nervous system is made, and the major 
portion of the solid matter of blood. Connective 
tissue, the combustible part of the cartilage and 
bone, and the skin, are formed of the gelatinous 
matter. Horn, hair, wool, and feathers constitute 
the horny matter. The animal juices are of a nitrog- 
enous origin also. The fats contain no nitrogen, but are 
combustible and are either of a hard or a fluid nature. 

36 



COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS 



37 



Incombustible Matter. — The bones contain the 
largest part of the incombustible constituents. Here 
are found calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate 
and magnesium phosphate in greatest abundance. 
Potassium phosphate heads the list in the tissues. 
These mineral substances constitute from three to 
five per cent of the live weight of the animal. 

Water. — More than half of the entire weight of 
the animal is water. It is to be found in all parts 
of the body and is as essential for the development 
of solid tissue as any of the other ingredients. 
Young and growing animals, like young and grow- 
ing plants, contain the highest percentage of water. 
As the animal matures the proportion of water dimin- 
ishes until it reaches about one-half of the total weight. 

Range of Variation of Materials. — The amounts 
of water, nitrogenous matter, fat, and the mineral 
constituents present in a large number of animals 
have been determined at Rothamsted Station in Eng- 
land. The table following shows the range of variation 
of the various constituents and for different animals. 



PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF WHOLE ANIMAL 
( WARRINGTON) 



Constit- 


Fat 


Half 


Fat 


Fat 


Fat 


Store 


Fat 


uent 


Calf 


Fat Ox 


Ox 


Lamb 


Sheep 


Pig 


Pig 


Water . . 


65.1 


56.0 


48.4 


52.2 


46.1 


58.1 


43.0 


Protein . 


15.7 


18.1 


15.4 


13.5 


13.0 


14.5 


11.4 


Fat 


15.3 


20.8 


32.0 


31.1 


37.9 


2 4.6 


43.9 


Ash 


3.9 


5.1 


4.2 


3.2 


3.0 


2.8 


1.7 



The smallest amounts of both ash and protein 
are found in the pig, the largest in the ox. Fat is 



38 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



found in greatest quantity in the pig and least in 
the calf. The ingredient in largest quantity is water. 
Principal Ash Constituents. — It is of interest, and 
worth while also, to know what quantities of nitro- 
gen, phosphoric acid and potash are to be found in 
various animals and their products. This informa- 
tion is of value in determining the quantity of each 
removed from the farm when an animal is sold or 
its products sent to market. In the following table 
these data are given. 



NITROGEN, PHOSPHORIC ACID AND POTASH IN 1,000 
POUNDS (wARRINGTON) 



Animal 


Nitrogen 


Phosphoric 
acid 


Potash 


Fat Calf 

Fat Ox 

Fat Lamb 


24.6 
23.3 
19.7 
19.8 
22.1 
17.7 
94.4 
5.8 
5.0 


15.4 

15.5 

11.3 

10.4 

10.7 

6.5 

1.8 

2.0 

2.1 


2.1 
1.8 
1.7 


Fat Sheep 

Store Pig 


1.5 

2 


Fat Pig 

Washed Wool 

Milk 


1.4 
1.9 

1 7 


Skim Milk 


2 







In the fat calf and the fat ox the largest amount of 
these three important fertilizing elements is 
removed, and in the fat pig the least. Hog raising, 
therefore, is less hard on the land than beef produc- 
tion. Dairying is more favorable even than pork. 
If we assume a cow produces 5,000 pounds of milk 
during a lacteal period and this milk is sold to the 
city, the loss to the land will be 29 pounds of nitro- 
gen, 10 pounds of phosphoric acid and 8.5 pounds of 
potash. Rating the nitrogen at 16 cents a pound, 



COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS 



39 



the phosphoric acid at 5 cents and potash at 5 cents, 
the total money loss will be $5.57. The milk, if 
sold at 4 cents a quart, would bring $100. Consid- 
ering the large amount of feed furnished and the 
large amount of manure resulting therefrom, the 
loss in plant food is small. If, instead of selling 
milk, butter is sold, the loss of these three elements 
will be insignificant. 



FATTENING H06S-F00D CONSUMED TO PRODUCE 100 POUNDS 6AIN 



300 400 500 600 700 



FIRST FORTNIGHT 
SECOND F0RTNI6HT 
THIRD FORTNIGHT 
FOURTH FORTNIGHT 
FIFTH FORTNIGHT 



Food Consumed During Fattening Period 

During a ten-week fattening period with hogs the food consumption in- 
creases more than 50 per cent to produce 100 pounds of increase. There is 
a limit to which hogs can be profitably fed. 



Percentage of Increase in Fattening. — When ani- 
mals are fattened for market an increase of all con- 
stituents is noticed. This is shown in the table 
below. 

INCREASE DURING FATTENING STAGE ( WARRINGTON ) 





Water 


Protein 


Fat 


Ash 


Pigs 


28.6 
24.6 
22.0 


7.8 

7.7 
7.2 


63,1 

66. i 
68.8 


0.5 




1.5 


Sheep 


2.0 



The sheep, during the fattening period, stores up 
fully four times as much ash as the pig. The sig- 
nificant thing brought out in this table is the fact 



40 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



II 



that the protein increase is very similar in the three 
classes, and that the fat increase ranges between 
eight and nine times the quantity of the protein. 

Group Constituents. — The substances of the ani- 
mal's body may be grouped under four heads : 

1. Water. 

2. Ash or mineral matter. 

3. Protein. 

4. Fat. 




What an Animal Contains 

Protein, the dark red substance; fat, the white strips; bone or mineral 
matter; and water, comprise the distinct groups of substances that form the 
animal body. 

This grouping differs little from that of plants. 
Since starch, the vegetable gums, sugar, cellulose, 
etc., are derived from the same elements and have 
the same fuel value when assimilated by the animal, 
they can be classed as carbohydrates. The carbo- 



COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS 



41 



hydrates are formed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxy- 
gen; the last two elements are in the proportion to 
form water, hence the name. When all the plant 
constituents are grouped together the five divisions 
are as follows: 

1. Water. 

2. Ash. 

3. Protein. 

4. Fat. 

5. Carbohydrates. 



THE SOIL 



THE PLANT THE ANIMAL 




starch: 

/CRUDE FIBER 
\AND CELLULOSE 

PROTEIN 

OIL OR FAT 



SUGAR 




PROTEIN 



FAT 



/heat 

lENERGY 




ASH OR MINERAL MATTER -ASH 



WATER 



WATER 



Cycle of Life 

From the plant is fed the animal; from the animal is sustained the soil; 
from the soil and air is nourished the plant. 



42 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

From the standpoint of composition the only dif- 
ference between plants and animals is in the fact 
that the former contain carbohydrates and the latter 
do not. 

What These Compounds Do. — Protein is the 
"muscle maker" of the body; fat and carbohydrates, 
the "heat and energy producers." The protein of 
the plant is changed into the protein of the animal. 
In the animal this constituent comprises the mus- 
cular tissue, blood, hair and nerves, the internal 
organs, skin, etc. In addition the protein is used in 
the repair work of the body. Every beat of the 
heart, every circuit of the blood, and every move 
of a muscle, demands that some protein sub- 
stance be used up. To keep the animal machine in 
good working order these parts must be kept in 
repair. Hence, protein at all times must replace 
the broken parts with a new supply. If this supply 
satisfies the waste, the weight of the animal will 
remain unchanged. When the supply is liberal, or 
exceeds the demands of the system, material may 
be stored in the body as flesh or fat, and the animal 
will gain in weight. 

Food is needed to keep animals warm. As wood 
gives of¥ heat when burned in the stove, so food 
consumed in the body furnishes heat. This con- 
sumption of fuel food is so well regulated in a 
healthy animal that the temperature remains at the 
same point at all times. Carbohydrates and fats 
are mainly the sources of the heat supply. These 
same ingredients are used for the production of fat 



COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS 43 

in the body and of muscular energy ; yet protein may 
also be used. 

Protein Food furnishes in the animal body : 

1. Protein 

Blood, 

Brain and nerves, 
Internal organs and skin, 
Flesh, etc. 

2. Heat 

3. Fat 

4. Energy 

Fat of Food furnishes in the animal body: 
J. Heat 

2. Fat 

3. Energy 

Carbohydrates of Food furnish in the animal body : 

1. Heat 

2. Fat 

3. Energy 



CHAPTER VI 
FOOD NUTRIENTS 

Nutrients Defined. — Any substance absorbed int< 
the system in the process of digestion or that con-j 
tributes to the support of animal life is a nutrieni 
Hence, the albumen of an Qgg, the starch of a potato] 




CowpEAS A Rich Food 

Much nutrition is obtained from cowpeas and other leguminous crops. 
These are relatively rich in protein, and hence should have a place in every 
system of farming. 

the salts of an apple, the ash of wheat bran, the fiber 
of pasture grass, are all nutrients and as such pro- 
mote the well-being of animals which can grow, do 
work, give milk or lay on fat or flesh. 

44 



FOOD NUTRIENTS 45 

Most Feeding Stuffs are Unbalanced. — If every 
food were wholly digestible and the digestible pro- 
tein, digestible carbohydrates and digestible fats 
were united in every feeding stuff in just the right 
proportion to meet the needs of the particular ani- 
mal, the feeding of farm animals would be a simple 
problem. But plants vary in composition ; their 
food constituents are neither all nor yet equally 
digestible ; some are much concentrated in form, 
while others place their food nutrients in large bulk. 
Because of these differences in the nature of feed- 
ing stuffs it is necessary to resort to wide variety 
and to blend or mix the provender that the varying 
needs of the various classes under continuous 
change of method of feeding or of age or of pur- 
pose may be met. This gives rise to the compound- 
ing of rations for each special class of live stock. 

But few single feeding stuffs furnish the required 
quantities of protein, carbohydrates and fat; the 
most economical and best fesults are secured when 
two or more are combined. By such a combination, 
if one feed is lacking in protein, for instance, this 
deficiency may be met in the ration through the 
selection of another substance possessing the pro- 
tein element in unusual abundance. In this man- 
ner the shortage of the one is balanced by the 
abundance of the other. 

Digestibility Defined. — Every feeding stuff con- 
tains protein, carbohydrates, fat, ash and water. Of 
each of these there is a distinct proportion absorbed, 
and the remainder is rejected and excreted in the 
feces. The proportion which represents the quan- 



46 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

tity absorbed is spoken of as the amount digested or 
absorbed into the system. Digestibility refers to the 
true food value of any nutrient. Every food, there- 
fore, regardless of the balance of its proximate 
principles, contains both digestible and indigestible 
matter. To know the proportion of each part is 



II 



FOOD 


TOTAL NUMBER OF POUNDS IN 2.000 POUNDS OF SUBSTANCE 




5 10 20 30 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 




WHOLE WHEAT 

FLOUR 

WHEAT BRAN 

CORN 

CORN MEAL 

DRIED BEET PULP 

OATS 

OAT MEAL 

PEAS, GARDEN 

BEANS.GARDEN 

BEEF 

CHEESE 

TIMOTHY HAY 

RED CLOVER HAY 

ALFALFA HAY 


[]^^ 








^^im^^ 








^^" 








■— i 








— 


i 




i 




1 




1 





Mineral Matter in Some Common Foods 

The total number of pounds of mineral matter in a ton of certain sub- 
stance is here shown. Notice how small is the quantity in a ton of wheat 
flour. Wheat bran, on the other hand, is abundantly supplied. In our 
methods of manufacture farm animals profit at the expense of the human J 
family. j 

necessary if the feeder is to make use of his feeds 
to the best advantage. 

How Digestibility of a Food Is Determined. — The 

general method of investigation to obtain the diges- 
tibility of the various constituents of a feeding stuff 
has been to supply an animal with weighed quanti- 
ties of food the composition of which has been as- 
certained by chemical analysis. Within the period 
during which such an experiment is being con- 



FOOD NUTRIENTS 



47 



ducted, the solid excrements are collected, weighed 
and analyzed by the same chemical methods applied 
previously to the food. By this plan the amount 
of each constituent of the food which has passed 
through the animal unabsorbed is determined. It 
is a simple matter now to subtract this quantity 
from the amount found to have been present in the 
food originally and to obtain the difference, which 
is the amount digested and absorbed. 

First Step Is to Obtain Composition. — Chemists 
have analyzed all the important feeding stuffs. 
Slight variation is noted, which is due largely to 
difference of variety, soil, climate, season, fertiliza- 
tion and culture. Based on averages, the resulting 
figures of composition are sufficiently accurate for 
all purposes of ration building. In the table follow- 
ing a few common feeding stuffs are included for 
assistance in determining the real nutritive value of 
each constituent. 

COMPOSITION OF SOME COMMON FEEDING STUFFS 







In 100 pounds of fresh substance 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Crude 
fiber 


Nitrogen- 
free 
extract 


Fat 


Corn stover — 

field cured . . . 
Red clover hay . 
Timothy hay . . . 
Cottonseed hulls. 
Corn — dent 




3.8 
12.3 
5.9 
4.2 
10.3 
15.7 
45.3 
25.0 


19.7 

24.8 

29.0 

46.3 

2.2 

9.0 

6.3 

6.8 


31.5 
38.1 
45.0 
33.4 
70.4 
53.9 
24.6 
53.5 


1.1 
3.3 
2.5 
2.2 
" 5 


Wheat bran .... 
Cottonseed meal. 
Gluten feed 


' 


4.0 

10.1 

3.5 



48 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



By this table not only a wide difference in the 
quantity of each constituent of each feeding stuff is 
noticed, but also that this obtains in all feeds, with 
no regularity of quantity for any constituent. The 
amount of protein varies from 3.8 pounds in corn 
stover to 45.3 pounds in cottonseed meal. In respect 




What Field Corn Contains 
When corn is analyzed nitrogen-free extract, or starch, is found to be 
present in the largest quantity. The amount of protein is not large and the 
ash supply is small. Corn as an exclusive food would insufficiently supply 
the mineral elements, and there would be too little protein in proportion to 
the starch and fat. 

to crude fiber the amount ranges from 2.2 pounds 
in corn to 46.3 pounds in cottonseed hulls. The 
greatest variation is with the nitrogen-free extract; 
it runs from 24.6 pounds in cottonseed meal to 70.4 
pounds in corn. Much difference is observed also 
in the fat; i.i pound is present in corn stover, but 
this advances to ten times that in the cotton meal. 



FOOD NUTRIENTS 



49 



Coefficient of Digestibility. — In the composition 
of feeding stuffs, both the digested and unabsorbed 
materials are included. The absorbed matter only 
is of importance as food. The data obtained through 
the digestion trials make known the percentage of 
each nutrient digested. Such figures express the 
digestion coefficient for each constituent of the food 
consumed. In the table following are given the 
figures representing the coefficients of digestibility 
for each constituent of each feeding stuff previously 
given. 



DIGESTION COEFFICIENTS OF SOME COMMON FEEDING 
STUFFS 





Percentage digestible 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Crude 
- fiber 


Nitrogen- 
free 
extract 

61 
64 
63 
34 
93 
71 
78 
89 


Fat 


Corn stover 

Red clover liay. . . . 

Timothy hay 

Cottonseed hulls . . 
Corn 


45 
55 
48 
6 
76 
77 
83 
85 


67 
46 
52 
47 
58 
41 
35 
76 


62 
53 
60 
79 
86 


Wheat bran 

Cottonseed meal . . 
Gluten feed 


63 

94 

82 



A marked variation is shown in this table. None 
of the constituents are equally well digested. In 
few instances are more than three-fourths of any 
one substance absorbed into the system. With cot- 
tonseed hulls but 6 per cent of the protein is 
digested, but a large amount of the fat — 79 per cent 
— is absorbed. 



50 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Digestible Nutrients. — With both the compositionj 
and the digestible percentage known, it is a com- 
paratively simple matter to determine the digestiblej 
quantity of each constituent. This is done by multi-i 




What Corn Stover Contains 

Corn stover contains more ash, water and fibre, and less protein, starch 
and fat than corn. Ear corn contains the same food ingredients, but these 
are more valuable because less fibrous and more concentrated. The real 
worth-while nutrients are protein, starch, and fat. 

plying the figures representing the total amount of 
each constituent by the coefficient of digestibility, 
the resulting product being the quantity digested. 
For example, corn stover contains 3.8 pounds of pro- 
tein, 19.7 pounds of crude fiber, 31.5 pounds of nitro- 



FOOD NUTRIENTS 



51 



gen-free extract and i.i pounds of fat. By multi- 
plying these amounts by the figures representing 
the digestibility for each constituent respectively, 
the amount of each digestible nutrient will be ob- 
tained. This is done as follows : 

Digestible Digestible 

Constituent Composition Coefficient Nutrient 

Protein 3.8 x 45 = 1.7 

Crude Fiber 19.7 x 67 = 13.2 

Nitrogen-free extract 31.5 x 61 = 19.2 

Fat 1.1 X 62 = 0.7 

The total digestible nutrients may be determined 
in this manner for each feeding stuff. Crude fiber 
and nitrogen-free extract, being used for the same 
purpose after absorption, may be included as a 
single group. They stand for the same thing, and 
from now on will be grouped under the term car- 
bohydrates. In the table below the feeding stuffs 
previously mentioned are listed and the total diges- 
tible nutrients of each are shown. 

DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS IN SOME COMMON FEEDING 

STUFFS 





Digestible 


nutrients in 100 pounds 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Carbohydrates 


Fat 


Corn stover 

Refd clover hay .... 

Timothy hay 

Cottonseed hulls 

Corn 

Wheat bran . 

Cottonseed meal . . 
Gluten feed 


1.7 

6.8 

2.8 

.3 

7.8 

12.1 

37.6 

21.3 


32.4 
35.8 
43.4 
33.1 
66.7 
41.9 
20.7 
51.8 


0.7 
1.7 
1.5 
1.7 
4.3 
2.5 
9.5 
2.9 



Correct Rations are Based on Digestibility. — 

From the data here given the importance of basing 



52 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

all feeding rations on the digestible matter rather 
than on the total composition is clearly seen. Only 
a part of the food taken into the stomach is assim- 
ilated — just a part; sometimes 90 per cent, some- 
times 75 per cent, some times 50 per cent and in the 
case of some foods as little as 25 per cent is digesti- 
ble. Hence, in every feed there is a part lost and 









% 




^^^^^m 




^K M 




H^H 




r« 




. ::^>^BIRIHRIIIilll^H 


j^Sf^ms 


te'l 






pi 


^m^B: 




.Is 




feli"'?-'^c 



I 



He Had a Good Ration 
This is a picture of the champion grade steer at the 1909 International 
live stoclc show. He was fed a variety of food, and with great care and 
thought. 

wasted to the animal ; therefore, this serves no con- 
tribution to the nutriment of the body. 

Nor can one constituent be used wholly to take 
the place of any other. Since protein contains nitro- 
gen and sulphur in addition to carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen, it is evident that neither the carbohydrates 
nor the fats which contain carbon, hydrogen and 



FOOD NUTRIENTS 53 

oxygen only can be substituted for protein. Just as 
the phosphorus or potassium of a fertilizer cannot re- 
place nitrogen, so the carbohydrates or the fats can- 
not replace the protein of a food. While it is true 
that protein may be substituted for the carbohy- 
drates and fats, it is to a limited extent, and only 
for a limited time. Even though the well-being of 
the animal would permit of this substitution the 
added expense would be against the practice. 



CHAPTER VII 
SOME SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN FEEDING 

The Animal as a Machine. — Considered as a ma- 
chine, the animal body needs two classes of food: 
one, to furnish the materials by which the machine 
may be constructed and kept in repair; and a sec- 
ond, or sustaining reserve, to develop heat to keep 
the body warm and to supply energy for the pro- 
duction of internal and external work. Water, ash 
and protein are the essential building materials and 
the fats and carbohydrates the primary fuel sub- 
stances. This distinction gives rise to the grouping 
of feeding stuffs as being either of a building or fuel 
nature. All individual foods contain both, but in 
varying proportions ; some are heavy carriers of the 
first, others of the second, and still others within 
these two extremes. Food values, therefore, are 
somewhat dependent upon the manner in which 
they are classified; this, of course, being consistent 
with the nature of their digestible nutrients. 

Nutritive Ratio. — A point of some importance in 
determining the suitability of a feeding stuff as an 
article of diet is the proportion between the digesti- 
ble protein and the digestible non-protein organic 
constituents. This relation is most conveniently 
termed the nutritive ratio of the food. Simply de- 
fined, this term means the ratio which exists 
between the amount of digestible protein to the 
combined digestible carbohydrates and fat. It is 



SOME SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN FEEDING 



55 



FEEDING STUFF ^^ 


TRITIVE 
?ATiO 


^^ PROTEIN 

1 ^CARBOHYDRATES &. FAT 


DRIED BLOOD 1 
TANKAGE 1 
COTTON SEED MEAL 1 
LINSEED MEAL 1 
SOY BEANS 1 
SKIM MILK 1 
GLUTEN FEED 1 
COW PEAS 1 
DRIED BREWERS'GRAINS 1 
COWS MILK 1 
WHEAT BRAN 1 
ALFALFA 1 
COW PEA HAY 1 
PASTURE GRASS 1 
WHEAT MIDDLINGS 1 
MANGLES 1 
RAPE 1 
RED CLOVER HAY 1 
OATS 1 
BUCKWHEAT 1 
RYE 1 
WHEAT 1 
TURNIPS 1 
KAFIR CORN 1 
BLUE GRASS 1 
:CORN 1 
BEET PULP 1 
MILLET HAY 1 
PRAIRIE HAY 1 
CORN SILAGE J 
CORN & COB MEAL 1 
TIMOTHY HAY 1 
POTATO 1 
CORN STOVER 1 
KAFIR CORN STOVER 1 
S0R6UM HAY 1 
OAT STRAW 1 
WHEAT STRAW 1 


0.1 
LI 
1.2 
1.7 
\.S 

z. 

5. 

5.1 
3.2 

-3.7 
3.7 
3.8 
5.S 
4.5 
4.7 
5.1 
5.6 
5.8 
6.2 
6.9- 
7.1 
7.2 
7.7 
8.'! 
8.6 
9.7 

12. 

12. 

12,2 

14. 

15.1 

16.6 

18.3 

20. 

20. 

22. 

33.6 

95. 


■^■n 




■ 


■ i 


■ . 1 


■ 1 


1 1 


1 


^ 


IMI 


■■ 


■■ 


!■■ 


mm 


^^ 




■■ 


■■ 




1 
1 


■■ 


■■ 


^ 


im 


■i 


■ 


■1 


■ 


■ 


1 


■ 


■ 


■ 1 


B 1 


B 1 


1 1 


1 1 


N 1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 



Nutritive Ratio of Some Common Feeding Stuffs 



e6 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

obtained as follows : The fat is reduced to its car- 
bohydrate equivalent and added to the digestible 
carbohydrates. The sum of the two, representing 
the non-protein, is then divided by the figure or fig- 
ures representing the quantity of protein. The 
resulting figure is the second factor, which means that 
for each pound of protein in the feed or ration there 
are so many pounds of non-protein or carbohydrates. 

Reducing Fat to Carbohydrates. — The non- 
protein constituents of a feed — starch, fiber, fats, 
etc. — are used to develop heat, energy and fat in 
the animal body. Their efficiency for this purpose 
has been ascertained by numerous experiments, 
which show that a pound of fat will develop as 
much heat energy as 2.3 pounds of starch. Hence, 
this more concentrated energy must be taken in 
consideration in combining the carbohydrates and 
fat as a single unit group if a definite, accurate value 
is to be obtained with reference to any feeding stuff. 
In all calculations from now on this higher efficiency 
of fat will be given its proper weight. 

Determining the Nutritive Ratio. — In a previous 
table the digestible nutrients in 100 pounds of corn 
were shown to be as follows : Protein 7.8 pounds, 
carbohydrates 66.8 pounds and fat 4.3 pounds. The 
fat first is reduced to its carbohydrate equivalent by 
multiplying the number of pounds representing it by 
the authoritatively taken factor 2.3 ; which being 
done, shows that 4.3 pounds of fat equal 9.9 pounds 
of the carbohydrates in producing heat and energy. 
The fat, now having been reduced to a carbohydrate 
basis, can be added to 66.8, the amount pf carbo- 



SOME SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN FEEDING 57 

hydrates in corn, which gives y6.j pounds of total 
carbohydrates. This sum divided by the number 
representing the quantity of protein, which in the 
case of corn is 7.8 pounds, gives the final factor 
of the ratio; or 9.8. 

In the form of proportion the stages are as follows : 
(i) The amount of protein is to the amount of the 

carbohydrates as i is to the factor to be 

determined. 

(2) Protein : Carbohydrates : : i : x 

(3) 7.8 : (66.8 + 9.9) : : I : X 

(4) 7-8 : 767 : : I : 9.8 

The nutritive ratio of corn is therefore i to 9.8, 
which means that in this feeding stuff for every 
pound of digestible protein there are 9.8 pounds of 
digestible carbohydrates and fat equivalent. 

Wide or Narrow Nutritive Ratio. — A wide dif- 
ference exists among feeds as to the proportion of 
protein which they contain. The oil meals and the 
legumes, especially their seeds, are rich in protein, 
roots and straw very poor, while cereal grain and 
their products occup)^ a middle place. These differ- 
ences give rise to the terms wide and narrow nutri- 
tive ratios which apply both to single feeds and rations. 
A feed or a ration has a ''narrow" nutritive ratio 
when the digestible protein contained in it is high in 
comparison to the carbohydrates and fat, and "wide" 
when the reverse to this ; that is, little protein and 
much of the carbohydrates and fat. 

Balanced Ration. — Since all feeding stufifs, with 
the possible exception of pasture grass, are unfit as 
single food substances, they naturally fall in a class 



58 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



as being either wide or narrow. If two or more are 
combined in the proper proportions to furnish all 
the digestible nutrients, with no excess or shortage 
of any nutrient, but in just the quantity needed by 
a certain class of animals fed for a distinct purpose, 
the combination is then satisfactory, and does pro- 
vide a balanced ration. 




Balancing the Ration Improves It 

The two larger pigs at the right have been fed corn and tankage, while 
the two smaller ones at the left have been fed corn only. This shows why a 
balanced ration is worth while. 



Feeding Standards. — For many years investi- 
gators have been conducting feeding tests to learn 
the amount of digestible protein, carbohydrates and 
fat best for farm animals under average conditions. 
They have studied the results of various foods and 
varying amounts in thousands of animals. The re- 
sults are embodied in what are called feeding stand- 
ards. These tell the proper amounts of the nutri- 



SOME SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN FEEDING 59 

ents, or one day's food, for an animal of a certain 
weight under ordinary conditions. 

The subject is complicated in so many ways that 
it is out of the question to say with great definite- 
ness in the present light of feeding knowledge just 
what amount of each nutrient to give so the very 
best results may be obtained for the average animal 



FATTENING STEERS-GRAIN CONSUMED TO PRODUCE 100 POUNDS GAIN 


NUMBER OF 
DAYS FEEDING 


100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1.000 


56 
84 
112 
140 
168 
182 

















When the Feeding Period Is Extended 

When fattening steers were fed for 56 days slightly over 700 pounds of 
food were consumed for each 100 pounds of gain. When the feeding period 
was lengthened to 182 days over a thousand pounds of grain was necessary 
to give 100 pounds of increase. 



under the average methods of feeding. The early 
standards proposed by German experimenters have 
been somewhat modified by other investigators, but 
so far, even though other attempts have been made 
to simplify these standards, the original Wolff-Leh- 
mann feeding standards are still the most popular 
guides in all studies of ration making. 

Maintenance Standard. — For one thing, these 
early teachers stated that less nutrients are neces- 
sary for animals doing no work, or giving no milk, 
or not fed for fattening purposes, than for animals 
actually so engaged. This has given rise to a stand- 
ard for maintenance when the animal is at rest in 



6o FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

the Stall. They showed, also, that a dairy cow giv- 
ing little or no milk does not require nearly as large 
a quantity of food as one in full flow of milk. Of 
course, every farmer knows this ; but these investi- 
gators prepared a guide giving the quantity of 
digestible protein, carbohydrates and fat so as to 
meet the maintenance needs of the dry cow. 

The dry cow does need daily a certain amount of 
each of the food nutrients. She must keep her body 
warm, maintain the regular blood supply, repair the 
broken-down tissues and meet all the requirements 
of life and health. These things are obtained from 
the food. If more food is provided than necessary 
to meet these daily demands, the animal will increase 
in weight. If too little food is given, then the re- 
verse will happen, the animal will lose in weight, 
and, as popularly expressed, will become thin in flesh, 
or poor. Working from this point, these nutrition 
investigators carefully prepared standards for cows 
giving various quantities of milk, for steers at dif- 
ferent stages of fattening, for horses doing little or 
much work, and for hogs and sheep at their various 
periods of growth and fattening. 

Standards for Farm Animals. — These feeding 
standards as guides indicate for feeders what 
amount of each nutrient is required in the body, not 
only for maintenance and support, but also for milk 
or beef, wool or mutton, and labor. A different 
standard is provided for different animals and con- 
sistent with the purposes for which the animals are 
fed. A cow giving little milk, according to the 
standard, is to be given smaller quantities of food 



I 



SOME SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN FEEDING 



6i 



than another in heavy milk flow. Likewise rations 
for beeves differ considerably from those for horses 
or pigs. These feeding standards, though easily under- 
stood, are still very complicated, but they clearly show 
that the practice of feeding is not only an interesting 
art, but one that calls for much skill .and training also. 

WOLFF-LEHMANN FEEDING STANDARDS 



Daily allotment on 


basis 1,000 pounds live weight 




Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients in 
pounds 




Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Milk cows when giving 
daily 

11 pounds of milk ... 
22 pounds of milk . . . 
27.5 pounds of milk ... 

Fattening cattle 

First period 

Second period 

Third period 

Sheep 

Coarse wool 

Fine wool 


25 
29 
32 

30 
30 
26 

20 
23 

25 

30 

28 

20 
24 

26 

22 

36 
32 
35 


1.6 

2.5 
3.3 

2.5 
3.0 

2.7 

1.2 

1.5 
2.9 

3.0 
3.5 

1.5 
2.0 

2.5 

2.5 

4.5 

4.0 

2.7 


10.0 
13.0 
13.0 

15.0 
14.5 
15.0 

10.5 
12.0 
15.0 

15.0 
14.5 

9.5 
11.0 
13.3 

15.5 

25.0 

24.0 
18.0 


.3 

.5 

.8 

.5 

.7 
.7 

.2 
.3 
.5 

.5 

.6 

A 

.6 

.8 

.4 

.7 
.5 
A 


Ewes with lambs 

Fattening sheep 

First period 

Second period 

Horses 

Light work 


Medium work 

Heavy work 


Brood sows 


Fattening hogs 
First period 


Second period 

Third period 



These standards are based on i,ooo pounds live 
weight. For animals weighing less, as sheep and 



62 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

swine, the quantity prescribed would be propor- 
tionately decreased. A sheep, for instance, weighing 
I GO pounds would be fed one-tenth the quantity called 
for in the standard. An animal weighing more than 
1,000 pounds would require a .proportionate increase. 

Feeding Standard Only a Guide. — No one should 
rely absolutely on the feeding standard as his sole 
aid in feeding any class of animals. Standards are 
to be taken as guides only and are to be varied or 
modified as circumstances require. In fattening 
farm stock it is clearly the best sense to supply the 
largest amount of food that the stock fed can make 
profitable use of. In feeding dairy cows, so long as 
hay, fodder, and silage are home-raised and abun- 
dant, the cows may safely be given as much as they 
can be tempted to eat, provided of course, the con- 
centrated feeds are not denied proper places in the 
ration. Those responding in heavy milk yields are 
entitled to the largest amounts of the concentrates, 
while those that are milking little will not require 
much, if any, food of a grain or concentrate nature. 

Not only the object sought but the food also will 
govern. So does the season of the year exert its 
influence. Then too, and not the least either, the 
size of the animal affects the food consumption in 
respect to the general results. A great part of the 
demand for food is determined by the surface of the 
animal rather than by its weight. With these cir- 
cumstances in mind as examples of various factors 
that must be considered, the feeding standard may 
well be used as a starting point in the practical feed- 
ing of the farm live stock. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 

An Animal Uses Food for five distinct purposes : 

1. To replace the waste from all parts of the body. 

2. To produce heat to keep the body warm. 

3. To produce energy so that work may be done. 

4. To provide the building materials for larger 

growth or increase in muscle, fat, flesh, and 
bone. 

5. To have materials in reserve for the formation 

of milk, wool, etc. 

These five purposes develop after the food is ab- 
sorbed, and originate from the digestible nutrients 
expressed in terms of protein, carbohydrates and fat. 
To provide these nutrients in the quantity and pro- 
portions that they should be fed, so as to satisfy 
one or more of the five ends of feeding, makes neces- 
sary the selection and compounding of rations. 

Three Kinds of Rations. — As an example of how 
a mixture of feeding stufTs may be devised so as to 
yield the requisite amounts of the protein and 
energy nutrients and at the same time be neither 
too bulky nor too concentrated, one of the follow- 
ing courses is generally open. Suppose a ration is 
wanted for a herd of dairy cows. What class of food 
shall be placed before the animals? In answer to 
this question it is possible to furnish any one of 



64 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



three kinds of rations. One of these might consist 
of the roughage food raised on the farm like straw, 
corn stover, the usual farm hays, and a small feed 
of ear corn; on the other hand, a ration might be 
furnished consisting largely of grain feed or concen- 




TiAVOTHY Not a Balanced Food 

Although one of the most popular hay crops, timothy contains a small 
amount of protein. It is an excellent horse food but not as good for dairy 
cows as clover, alfalfa, or cowpeas. 

trates, with a small allowance of some cheap rough- 
age for feeding. 

Neither of these is uncommon. On many farms 
the cows are given the very feeds here mentioned. 
In villages, and in herds near large cities, other cows 
are fed largely the by-products of certain manufac- 






THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 65 

turing enterprises or on chop feeds and other grain 
materials that may be purchased often as cheaply 
as hay. The result is, in neither instance are the 
cows fed as they ought to be. The cow in the 
country gets too little protein and too much carbo- 
hydrates and fat; the village cow too much of pro- 
tein and too little of the carbohydrates and fat; and 




Mixing Their Own Ration 

These cows have, the run of a large area in which several kinds of grasses 
flourish. Rape is growing in the foreground. 

the best results are not obtained in either case. The 
country cow loses in weight; she gets poor; she is 
forced to take from her own body much protein 
stored in flesh to use for milk and tissue repair. 
The village cow may or may not thin down, but the 
necessity of using the protein in the food for meet- 
ing all the functions of the nutrients acts to her dis- 
advantage and she is never able to be at her best. 



66 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Mixed Foods. — Best results are always secured 
when these two methods are merged : when the 
country cow is given concentrates in addition to the 
farm-raised roughages, and the village cow gets hay. 
and stover in addition to the feed-store mill feeds. 
It is not enough to secure grain as concentrates for 
the country cow either; the selection must be made 
on the basis of the composition ; and, since the coun- 
try cow's ration is already out of proportion'because 
of the excess of carbohydrates and fat, it would not 
help the matter any by a purchase of a grain food 
also low in protein. 

In practice many feeders buy corn meal as a dairy 
concentrate ; instead of improving the ration this 
makes things worse, because corn meal added to 
the grass hay, corn stover, straw ration only in- 
creases the cost without supplying any appreciable 
increase of protein. The way out of this difficulty 
is to study the available concentrates and select one 
or more that contains protein, and not starch an 
fat, in greatest abundance. 

How a Ration is Made. — Rations are usually com 
puted on the basis of i,ooo pounds live weight fo 
the animals. If the animals weigh more, a propor- 
tionate increase of food is allotted; if less, a pro- 
portionate decrease. 

The first step in computing a ration is to consider 
the feeding standard for the class of animals to be 
fed. If it is assumed that a ration is wanted for a 
dairy cow giving 22 pounds of milk daily, the table 
of standards is to be consulted. For dairy cows 
giving 22 pounds of milk the standard calls for 29 



I 



II 



THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 



67 



pounds of dry matter, 2.5 pounds of digestible pro- 
tein, 13 pounds of digestible carbohydrates, and 0.5 
pounds of digestible fat. Assuming that corn stover, 
corn silage and clover hay are the most available, 
we will use such quantities of each as have been 
found in practice to be fairly representative of the 
available supply on average farms and about what 
an animal will eat up clean without tiring her appe- 
tite. 

As a starting point, we will use 10 pounds of corn 
stover, 15 pounds of clover hay and 30 pounds of 
corn silage. The averages for digestible nutrients 
in these feeds are the following: 





Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients in 
100 pounds 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Corn stover 

Corn silage 

Clover hay 


59.5 
20.9 
84.7 


1.4 

0.9 
7.1 


31.2 

12.6 
37.8 


0.7 

.6 

1.8 



The second step in the computation is to calculate 
the pounds of digestible nutrients in the quantities 
of each of these feeding stuffs. It is clear, for in- 
stance, that 10 pounds of corn stover will contain 
just one-tenth as much protein, carbohydrates and 
fat as 100 pounds. If each of these factors be 
divided by 100 and multiplied by 10, we shall have 
the amounts of each constituent that 10 pounds of 
corn stover will furnish the animal. 



68 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

The lOO pounds of corn stover contain : 
59-5 pounds of dry matter, 

1.4 pounds of protein, 
31.2 pounds of carbohydrates, 
0.7 pounds of fat. 

If 100 pounds of corn stover contain these quan- 
tities of digestible nutrients, then i pound contains 
just one one-hundredth as much, or the following 
quantities : 

•595 pounds of dry matter, 

.014 pounds of protein, 

.324 pounds of carbohydrates, 

007 pounds of fat. 

Ten pounds, of course, v^ill contain ten times the 
quantity of i pound, or the following: 
5.95 pounds of dry matter, 

.14 pounds of protein, 
3.24 pounds of carbohydrates, 
.07 pounds of fat. 

The digestible nutrients in 30 pounds of corn 
silage are ascertained in the same manner: 



I 



Dry matter . . 

Protein 

Carbohydrates 
Fat 



In 100 




In 1 


In 30 


pounds 




pound 


pounds 


20.9 - 


- 100 


= .209 X 


30 = 6.27 


0.9 - 


- 100 


= .009 X 


30 = .27 


12.6 - 


- 100 


= .126 X 


30 = 3.78 


0.6 - 


- 100 


= .006 X 


30 = .18 



« 



Making the same computation for each constitu- 
ent in clover hay, \/e have the following: 



Dry matter 


In 100 
pounds 
84 7 — 


100 
100 
100 
100 


In 1 
pound 
= .847 X 15 
= .071 X 15 
= .378 X 15 
= .18 X 15 


In 15 
pounds 

— 12.70 


Protein 


7.1 — 


— 1.06 


Carbohydrates .... 
Fat 


37.8 H- 

1.8 ^ 


= 5.67 
= .27 



THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 



69 



If we arrange these figures in a table and add the 
nutrients together, we shall have a statement of the 
quantity of each constituent supplied in these feeds, 
and will be in a position to compare with the stand- 
ard to know what nutrients are insufficiently pro- 
vided. This is done as below: 





Dry 

raa,tter 


Digestible nutrients 


Feeding- stuffs 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


10 lbs corn stover. . 
SO lbs corn sUage. . 
15 lbs clover hay . . 

Totals 


5.95 

6.27 

12.70 

25.92 


.14 

.27 

1.06 

1.47 


3.24 
3.78 
5.67 

12.69 


.07 
.18 

.27 

.52 


Feeding- standard. . . 


29.00 


2.50 


13.00 


.50 



Comparing the nutrients in the feeds as used 
above with the standard, it will be seen there is a 
deficiency in every instance. It will now be neces- 
sary to introduce into the ration one or more other 
feeds in order to correct the faults so evident in the 
table. Since the greatest deficiency is in the protein, 
we must seek a supply from among such feeding 
stufifs as are particularly rich in protein. The oil 
meals and the gluten meals are of this kind. If, 
then, we add 2% pounds of cottonseed meal, we 
shall very nearly approximate the standard. The 
digestible nutrients for this feed are ascertained in 
the same manner as before, and a second trial made. 



70 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



FEEDING RATION FOR DAIRY COW 





Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


In preceding- 

2% lbs cottonseed 
meal 

Totals 


25.92 

2.55 

2S.47 


1.47 
1.03 
2.50 


12.69 

.59 

13.28 


.52 

.26 
.7^ 


Feeding standard. . . 


29.00 


2.50 


13.00 


.50 



In this ration no serious faults are noticed. We 
have the correct amount of protein, but an excess 
in carbohydrates of .28 pounds and of fat .28 pounds. 
The dry matter is slightly under the standard. This 
does not matter, however, so long as the quantity 
does not so greatly overrun the standard as to give 
greater bulk than the average cow has room to ac- 
commodate. This deficiency can be considerable m 
and still not affect the efficiency of the ration. The 
excess of the fuel foods is so small as to be of no 
importance at all. Were a pound less of clover hay 
and a quarter of a pound more of cottonseed meal 
to be used in the ration, the ration would correspond 
to the standard with considerable exactness. 

Feeding for Heavy Milkers. — This ration is for 
dairy cows averaging 22 pounds of milk a day. 
Suppose a ration is wanted for the same cows at 
another period when they are giving more milk 
than in the case just cited, say 27.5 pounds daily. 
How shall we proceed to adjust this ration to the 
new requirements, using as nearly as possible the 



THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 7I 

same feeding stuffs as before? The first step is to 
consult the standard. This we find calls for 32 
pounds of dry matter; 3.3 pounds of protein; 13 
pounds of carbohydrates ; 0.8 pound of fat. 

Our second step will be to consider the feeding 
stuffs as to the quantity to be used. Obviously, 
each cow has a certain limit as to storage and diges- 
tion capacity for bulky feeds. In the preceding 
ration we have provided for about all of the corn 




Heavy Milkers Require Big Rations 

The more milk a cow gives the more she must eat. The biggest eaters are 
usually the heaviest producers. 

stover, silage and clover hay that the average cow 
can handle. Her limit, therefore, is reached as far 
as the roughage foods are concerned. We resort, 
in consequence, to the concentrated mill feeds to 
supply the additional food required because of the 
extra milk produced. 

Since the ration already contains just about all 
that a cow of this size can eat, we will prepare a 



7^ 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



place In the ration by withdrawing three pounds of 
the clover hay. We will increase the cottonseed 
meal to four pounds and add 2^^ pounds of gluten 
feed. This done we have the following: 





Dry 

matter 


Digestible nutrients 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


10 lbs corn stover 

30 lbs corn silage 

J 2 lbs clover hay. . 

4 lbs cottonseed 

meal 

21^ lbs gluten feed 

Totals 


5.95 

6.27 

10.12 

3.76 

2.25 

28.35 


.14 

.27 
.85 

1.50 
.53 

2.29 


3.24 
3.78 
4.54 

.84 
1.80 

13.76 


.07 
.18 
.21 

.36 

.06 

.88 


Standard 


32.00 


3.30 


13.00 


.80 



This ration agrees closely with the standard and 
is assumed to satisfy all the requirements for a cow 
yielding 27.5 pounds of milk daily and weighing 
1,000 pounds. 

Using the Standard in Practical Work. — Too 
many people take feeding standards and balanced 
rations far too seriously. They fail to understand 
that it is in the spirit and not in their literal use 
that these feeding aids are to be adopted. The bal- 
anced ration at best can be made to approach only 
approximately the food requirements for any ani- 
mal or set of animals. This has been pointed out 
before. The composition of a feeding stuff is always 
open to considerable variation, and what adds still 
to the uncertainty is the fact that foods are not 
digested with equal facility or completeness by dif- 



THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 



73 



ferent animals, even in the same herd and given the 
identical feeding stuffs. Moreover, it is both im- 
possible and impracticable to provide a ration for 
every individual in a herd. To do this would re- 
quire as many different rations as there are animals 
to be fed, and definite weighings of every feeding 
stuff contained in the ration. But all this is un- 
necessary and no exponent of the balanced ration 
asks that it be done. 




Where Science Helps to Fatten 

The man who approximates the feeding standards has an advantage over his 
competitor who ignores them. 



The aim of this scheme in feeding stock is to avoid 
serious faults in the use of feeding stuffs. Used on 
broad lines, the balanced ration enables the stock 
feeder to utilize to the best advantage the plant 
products which he raises. In case he needs an addi- 
tional supply he will be fully advised as to what 
class of available purchased feeds he should obtain 
in order to secure the greatest efficiency from the 
food. 



74 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

What Foods to Choose. — On every farm some 
feeding stuffs are grown that possess little commer- 
cial value. These should form the basis of that 
ration. Corn stover, the straws, legume hays, and 
silage are all splendid bulk foods, are easily raised 
on the farm and should be used freely in ration mak- 
ing. They will supply also the greater part of the 
carbohydrates and fat. The farm, therefore, is the 
best factory for the production of the fuel nutrients. 
In the legumes and cereal grains much of the pro- 
tein will be obtained. If any protein shortage exists 
it is good business sense to meet it, even though 
expensive concentrates must be purchased. 

The wise farmer will figure the cost of foodstuffs 
very carefully to find out what is most profitable to 
feed. It is often best to sell some of the food having 
a wide nutritive ratio, such as timothy, corn, oats, 
and wheat, and to purchase foods having a narrow 
nutritive ratio, such as the oil meals, and the factory 
by-products. Very often this exchange is made; 
and not only is the ration improved, thus bringing 
about better results from the animals under feed, 
but a money profit is secured in addition to that 
obtained because of the greater efficiency of the 
ration. 






CHAPTER IX 

BASING STANDARDS ON QUALITY OF 

MILK 

Oversupply of Protein. — While the old German 
standards have been used generally and are still the 
most popular in this country, many investigators 
now hold that the protein requirements are higher 
than practical experience indicates as being neces- 
sary. This is particularly the case with dairy cows. 
Many of our most successful dairymen have ob- 
tained as satisfactory results and at less cost by us- 
ing smaller amounts of protein in the rations as 
when they literally follow the Wolff feeding 
standard. 

The fact is, all good dairymen use the balanced 
ration. Many may not do this intentionally, but 
the feeds they provide follow more or less the stand- 
ards and furnish approximately the requisite 
amounts of the digestible nutrients. The feeding 
stuffs available admit of this. With corn silage, 
clover hay, cowpea hay, alfalfa, corn stover, mixed 
hay, the oil meals and the factory by-products, the 
food requirements are met within reasonable limits, 
even though the feeder may be unaware of the fact. 
It is true, nevertheless, that when these rations 
are analyzed those netting the most profit often 
show less protein than what the old standards really 
call for. 

75 



76 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



It must be remembered that these standards were 
made many years ago when scientific appliances 
were less adequate than now, and when little was 
known about either food or animals. The experi- 
ments were also made with German feeds when 
given to German animals, a circumstance that may 




Butter [jroduced from 
jUldDllarimrttiol-feed 
8.9 lbs. 



V'-^am 



W.y&Ak^.A\^MbW^4m 



libs. Bra 







58 lbs. Corn 
Soy Bean 6 



5JLAGE-GRAINI 

FOR 
DAIRY COWS 



BuHer[)rofliiced| 
fromldollars 
"^wnrfhof feed 
f^ 5.28 lbs. 



| 2.5lbsO,.M.dl^>^..^fe^^ ^ 



y.'ibV. Corn M'edTV 







6A\bsn 



AVERAGE DAILY 

RATION 
Consumed by each cow 
fed the silage ration 



AVERAGE DAILY 

RATION 
Consumed by each cow 
fed the st)ecial grain ration 



It Pays to Give the Right Feed 

Two rations for dairy cows have been compared. From the one 8.9 pounds 
of butter were produced from one dollar's worth of feed while from the 
other but 5.28 pounds of butter was obtained from one dollar's worth of 
feed. This shows how two rations may cost the same and one may be 
worth a great deal more for final returns. 



BASING STANDARDS ON QUALITY OF MILK "JJ 

be sufficient to modify the standards when American 
feeds are given American-raised live stock. 

Another factor that enters into the problem is 
the ever-increasing improved quality of our farm 
animals. On the same food, as Armsby has deter- 
mined, the pure-bred steer will make better gains 
than the scrub. If our farm animals are selected for 
high production, are we not warranted in contribut- 
ing some part of this increase to the digestive appa- 
ratus of the well-bred animal ? If the selected strain 
is better in other respects, does it not improve also 
in ability to digest and utilize food to the best ad- 
vantage? Moreover, our feeding stuffs are grown 
under different soil and climatic conditions and are fed 
under different environments, and these may account 
in part for the higher efficiency of our feeding stuffs. 

Haecker's Investigations. — After a study in vari- 
ous parts of the country of dairy rations some of 
which demonstrate very practically that less protein 
would give the same results. Professor Haecker of 
the Minnesota station undertook a series of experi- 
ments to determine, if possible, just what the food 
requirements are when dairy cows are cared 
for under average conditions. The results sug- 
gested by these experiments are the following : 

1. That less protein is required in the ration than 

called for in the old standard for dairy cows. 

2. That the food nutrients should correspond to 

the quantity of milk given. 

3. That the amount of butter fat in the milk must 

be given due weight in providing the food 
nutrients. 



BASING STANDARDS ON QUALITY OF MILK 



79 



4. That size and weight of the animal influence the 
food requirements similarly as worked out in 
the old standards. 

The Haecker Standard is based on two general 
propositions : First, the maintenance requirements 
of a cow weighing 1,000 pounds; and, second, an 
additional and shifting allowance of digestible nutri- 
ents that is dependent on the per cent of butter fat 
contained in the milk. The maintenance factor is 
0.7 pound of protein, 0.7 pound of carbohydrates 
and 0.1 pound of fat. For cows weighing more 
than 1,000 pounds these quantities are proportionately 
increased, and for cows weighing less than 1,000 pounds 
they are proportionately decreased. If, for instance, a 
cow weighs 1,100 pounds, the amounts of each nutri- 
ent for maintenance would be as follows : Protein, ."j^ 
pound; carbohydrates, .jy pound; and fat, .11 pound. 

The additional food requirements are dependent 
on the quantity and the fat content of the milk as 
arranged below : 



NUTRIENTS REQUIRED BY THE HAECKER STANDARD 




In accordance with weight 


For milk production 


of cow 


+j 




w 








w 




o^jS 


fl 


Ol 




+-> 


^ 


• 0) 






•" 


nS 




pC 


.rt 


oj 






^ 


.QSh 








^ ^ 




^hS 




u^ 


+j 


•jr 




wa 




-?-::i 


u 


rt >-. 


d 


^ 


S 


a >> 


a 


&.S 


Oh 


Ox: 


fc 


Q. 


Oj:: 


fc 


3.0 


.04 


.19 


.015 


600 


.42 


4.2 


.06 


3.5 


.042 


.21 


.016 


700 


.49 


4.9 


.07 


4.0 


.046 


.23 


.018 


800 


.56 


5.6 


.08 


4.5 


.049 


.26 


.020 


900 


.63 


6.3 


.09 


5.0 


.052 


■ .27 


.021 


1,000 


.70 


7.0 


.10 


5.5 


.055 


.29 


.022 


1,100 


.77 


7.7 


.11 


6.0 


.057 


.31 


.024 


1.200 


.84 


8.4 


.12 



8o 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



How to Establish a Standard. — It will be observed 
that no definite standard is provided. It all depends 
on what the maintenance requirements are, what 
amount of milk the daily yield is, and on the per 
cent of butter fat contained. Assuming that a cow 
weighing i,ooo pounds daily gives 22 pounds of 
milk, which tests 5 per cent fat, what will be the 
actual requirements of digestible nutrients accord- 
ing to the Haecker standard? The first step is to 
consult the table for the nutrient allowance as given 
for milk of the grade under consideration. This 
we find to be as follows: Protein, 0.052; carbohy- 
drates, 0.27; and fat, 0.021. But the cow gives 22 
pounds daily, in which case the quantities for one 
pound will be multiplied by 22 to meet the real daily 
production. The form is as follows : 



Protein 

Carbohydrates 
Fat 



In 1 In 22 

pound pounds 

.051 X 22 = 1.12 
.27 X 22 = 5.95 
.021 X 22 = .46 



These amounts added to what is required for the 
maintenance of a cow weighing 1,000 pounds and 
giving 22 pounds of five per cent milk are shown in 
the table following: 





Digestible nutrients 




Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Maintenance requirements 
Need for milk yield 

Totals 


.70 
1.12 

1.82 


7.00 
5.95 

12.95 


.10 
.46 

56 







BASING STANDARDS ON QUALITY OF MILK 8l 

Compared with Wolff Standard. — From this it is 
observed that by the Haecker standard when a cow 
weighs I, GOO pounds and gives daily 22 pounds of 5 
per cent milk she will require 1.82 pounds of pro- 
tein, 12.95 pounds of carbohydrates, and .56 pound 
of fat. The Wolff standard calls for 2.5 pounds of 
protein, 13 pounds of carbohydrates, and .5 pound 
of fat, which conforms very nearly to the Haecker 
standard in all but the protein, where a difference 
of .68 pound is observed. 



CHAPTER X 

COMPUTING RATIONS ON BASIS OF 
STARCH VALUES 

Starch as the Standard Nutrient. — In the German 
investigations with fattening oxen conducted by 
Kellner typical representatives of the several food 
nutrients v^ere obtained and added one at a time to 
a ration that gave a slight gain in weight. The 
amounts of lean meat and fat were determined both 
before and after the addition of the extra food. The 
difference between the two gains was then assumed 
as being a reasonable measure of the fattening effect 
of the added food. After repeated trials it seemed 
advisable to use starch as a standard by which other 
nutrients or feeding stuffs might be measured. The 
use of this nutrient in this way has given rise to the 
term starch value, which means the quantity by 
weight of any nutrient, or foodstuff, or ration that is 
equivalent to starch for fattening or other produc- 
tive purposes. 

Starch Value Illustrated. — In one of Kellner's ex- 
periments, a certain sample of linseed cake was 
found to contain 34.5 per cent of digestible protein ; 
26.1 per cent of digestible carbohydrates, including 
the fiber; and 8.4 per cent of digestible fat. When 
100 pounds of this was fed to a fattening ox, it was 
found that the increase was the same as when yy 
pounds of starch were fed. From this it was con- 



COMPUTING RATIONS BY STARCH VALUES 



83 



eluded that 100 pounds of linseed cake have a starch 
value, or starch equivalent, of Jj pounds. Other 
substances — gluten, earthnut oil, potato starch, cane 
sugar and pulped rye straw — were all used and the 
weight of fat produced per 100 pounds of the food 
ingredient digested was obtained, showing averages 
as follows : Pure protein, 23.5 pounds ; fat, 59.8 
pounds ; potato starch, 24.8 pounds ; cane sugar, 18.8 
pounds; and crude fiber, 25.3 pounds. 

Relative Starch Values. — Kellner has devised a 
method for calculation of values based on the fat- 
producing ability of starch. He puts starch at 100 
and grades the other nutrients to starch in accord- 
ance with their fat-producing values. Using starch 
as the unit of measure, the following values of the 
other nutrients were found to be as follows : 





Relative starch values 


Nutrient 


In 100 pounds 


In 1 pound 


Starch 


100 
102 
76 
94 
241 
212 

191 


1 00 


Pulped fiber 

Sugar 

Pure protein 

Fat (seeds of certain plants) 

Fat (other seeds, etc.) 

Fat (coarse fodders, chaff, 
roots) 


1.02 

.76 

.94 

2.41 

2.12 

1.91 



Here we see that fat or oil ranks first, ranging 
from 1. 91 in roots, chaff and coarse fodders to 2.41 
in the important seeds or their by-products, like the 
oil meals. Sugar is decidedly inferior to starch, the 
inferiority being due, it is claimed, to fermentation 
while this nutrient is in the digestive tract. Protein is 



84 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

nearly on a par with starch. The fiber, when made easily 
digestible by pulping, is almost exactly equal to starch. 
How to Obtain Starch Value. — By means of the 
above table it is an easy matter to calculate the 
starch value of any feeding stuff or ration. The form 
is as follows : Multiply the digestible protein by .94 ; 
add to this the carbohydrates, fiber, and the fat after 
multiplying the digestible fat by the percentage cor- 





p 




^r^ 








„^^^. 




"W' 




cMI^^hm^p 






f'^jK^vPi 


*"'* 



Typical Steer for Feeding 

In planning to fatten beeves make certain that the feeding stock is of a high 

grade. This steer is a fancy selected feeder. 

responding to its source. Expressed arithmetically 
we have the following : 

(Digestible protein x .94) + digestible carbohy- 
drates + digestible fiber -\- (digestible fat X 
2.41 or 2.12 or 1.91) = starch value of 100 
pounds. 
Using the digestible nutrients in linseed cake, as 
previously given, we have the following: 

(34.S X .94) + 26.1 + (8.4 X 24) = 78.7 



COMPUTING RATIONS BY STARCH VALUES 85 

Thus the 787 pounds represent the calculated 
starch value of 100 pounds of linseed cake, which 
actually had the same fattening increase as ^y 
pounds of starch. 

Actual Starch Value Below Calculated Starch 
Value. — When put to actual tests the calculated 
starch values failed to show an increase in produc- 
tion that the values really indicated them to possess. 
This is particularly the case with foods containing 
much fiber. The difference is accounted for in the 
work occasioned in digesting the foodstuff. Foods 
like cottonseed meal, linseed meal, corn, etc., possess 
little fiber, and therefore, the work of mastication 
and digestion requires only a small part of the nutri- 
ents contained in them for their necessary but un- 
productive purposes. Foods like wheat bran, oat 
straw, hay, etc., on the other hand, require much 
labor in the digestive processes, and consequently 
much of their nutriment is used up in this way. 

Kellner has met this dif^culty by assigning co- 
efficients of availability to each feeding stuff based 
on its calculated and actual starch values. Some of 
these are given on the next page. 

Considerable variation is here noted. The oil 
meals, which carry little fiber, are very largely avail- 
able on the basis of their calculated starch values. 
Wheat bran has more fiber and its coef^cient of 
availability drops to JJ. The more fibrous meadow 
hay drops to 70, while oat and wheat straw, with 
much fiber, go down to 61 and 29 respectively. 

Calculating Starch Values on Basis of Availabil- 
ity. — To reduce the calculated starch values to their 



86 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



actual value as indicated by the availability of the 
digestible nutrients, the following method is pur- 
sued: Multiply the digestible protein by its starch 
equivalent; add to this the digestible carbohydrates, 
fiber, and the fats after the fat has been multiplied 
by its starch equivalent ; then multiply this sum by 
the coefficient of availability. The arithmetical re- 

OBTAINING THE ACTUAL STARCH VALUE (kELLNERJ 





Starch value in 
100 pounds 




Feeding stuffs 


Calculated 


Found 

1 


Percentage of 

actual as against 

calculated 


Decorticated cotton- 
seed meal 

Potatoes 


Pounds 

80.0 
74.0 
79.0 
69.0 
72.5 
60.0 
62.0 
62.0 
57.0 
43.5 
37.0 


79.0 
72.5 
77.0 
65.5 
68.0 
52.0 
52.0 
48.0 
38.0 
26.5 
9.0 


98 
98 


Linseed cake 

Bean meal 

Rye meal . 


97 
95 
93 

87 


Dried grains 

Wheat bran 

Meadow hay 

Oat straw 

Wheat straw 


84 
77 
67 
60 
24 



suit will be the actual starch value. To illustrate : 
In linseed oil cake containing 34.5 pounds of 
digestible protein, 26.1 pounds of digestible carbo- 
hydrates and fiber and 8.4 pounds of fat what is 
the actual starch value of 100 pounds of the fresh 
substance? The process is as follows: 
( (34-5 X .94) + 26.1 + (8.4 X 2.4) ) X -97 = 76.3 
Thus the actual starch value of 100 pounds of lin- 
seed cake is 76.3. 



COMPUTING RATIONS BY STARCH VALUES 



87 



Feeding Stuffs with Much Fiber. — Kellner recom- 
mends that when coarse feeding stuffs .and foods 
containing much fiber are used the correction should 
be made in accordance with the following schedule : 

1. When hay, straw or green food contains 16 
per cent or more of crude fiber, reduce the uncor- 
rected calculated starch value by 0.58 for each per 
cent present. 

2. When chaff contains not more than 4 per cent 
of crude fiber, reduce by 0.29. 




Alfalfa Ready for Cutting 

Our most profitable farm crop is alfalfa. Fed green, preserved in the 
silo, ground into meal, or used as hay, it is adapted to all classes and is 
good for all seasons. 

3. When green foods contain between 4 and 16 
per cent reduce as follows : For 6 per cent of crude 
fiber reduce by 0.34 for each per cent; for 8 per 
cent, 0.38 ; for 10 per cent, 0.43 ; for 12 per cent, 0.48 ; 
and for 14 per cent, 0.53 starch value. 

To illustrate the manner of making these reduc- 
tions let us assume clover hay contains 5.4 per cent 



88 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



1 



of digestible protein, 38 per cent digestible carbo- 
hydrates and fiber, the total crude fiber being 25 
per cent; and 1.5 per cent fat. The process is as 
follows : 

Starch value of 100 pounds = (5.4 X -94) + (3^ — 
(25 X 0.58) + (1-5 X 1.9) = 30-9 pounds. 

The protein is multiplied by .94, the starch equiv- 
alent for protein ; the carbohydrates and fiber are 
reduced in accordance with the reduction factor as 
assigned for the per cent of the total crude fiber; 
the fat is multiplied by 1.9, the starch equivalent 
for fat in clover hay. When these changes are made 
the starch value of 100 pounds of clover hay is found 
to be 30.9 pounds. 

In case a green fodder is used the process is very 
similar. Take green alfalfa as an example, the 
digestible nutrients contained in it being as follows: 
Digestible protein, 2 per cent; digestible carbohy- 
drates and fiber, 9 per cent ; total crude fiber, 7 per 
cent; digestible fat, 0.5 per cent. 
Starch value of 100 pounds =z (2 X -94) + (9 — (7 
X 0.36) -f (0.5 X 1-9) =9-31 pounds. 

Starch Values for All Classes of Stock. — While 
Kellner obtained his results from fattening oxen, it 
is believed the starch values will apply equally well 
to all classes of animals and for all kinds of produc- 
tive purposes, provided, of course, enough protein is 
furnished to meet the body requirements for this 
food nutrient. A reasonable amount of fat is also 
necessary if the full starch value of any combination 
of feeding stuffs is to be secured. 

Feeding Standards on Basis of Starch Values. — In 



COMPUTING RATIONS BY STARCH VALUES 



89 



the table below are given the daily food require- 
ments for the several classes of farm animals as 
devised by Kellner and on the basis of 1,000 pounds 
live v^eight : 



food requirements on basis of starch values 
(kellner) 





Dry 


Digestible 


Starch 


Kind of animal 


matter 


protein 


values 


Cattle 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Maintenance of steer 


15 to 21 


0.6 


6.0 


Fattening- steer 


30 


2.0 


15.0 


Age Live weight 








6 to 12 mos 550 


26 


3.2 


14.4 


12tol8mos 770 


26 


2.6 


11.2 


18 to 24 mos 950 


26 


1.8 


10.0 


Sheep 








6 to 7 mos 66 


31 


4.0 


17.0 


7 to 9 mos 88 


30 


3.5 


16.0 


9 to 11 mos 110 


28 


3.0 


15.0 


Pigs 








2 to 3 mos 44 


44 


6.6 


33.8 


3 to 5 mos 110 


36 


5.6 


32.0 


5 to 6 mos 143 


32 


4.4 


26.5 


6 to 8 mos 198 


28 


3.9 


24.5 


9 to 12 mos 286 


25 


3.2 


19.9 


Last fattening stage 


26 


2.6 


19.8 


Milk cows 








Yielding 20 lbs milk 


25 to 29 


1.6 to 1.9 


12.5 to 14.5 


Yielding 30 lbs milk 


27 to 33 


2.2 to 2.5 


11.8 to 13.9 


Yielding 40 lbs milk 


27 to 34 


2.8 to 3.2 


13.9 to 16.6 


Horses 








Light work 


18 to 23 


1.0 


9.2 


Medium work 


21 to 26 


1.4 


1L6 


Heavy work 


23 to 28 


2.0 


15.0 



See Appendix for complete list of Kellner standards. 



Method of Computing a Ration. — There are avail- 
able for feeding a herd of cows clover hay, oats, 
green alfalfa and linseed cake. These feeding stuffs, 
if of good average quality, will furnish in lOO pounds 
the nutrients as given on the next page. 



90 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Feeding- stuffs 



Clover hay 

Oats 

Linseed cake . . 
Alfalfa (green) 





Digestible nutrients 


Dry 




Carbo- 




matter 


Protein 


hydrates 


Fat 


84. 7 


5.41 


38.0 


1.5 


89.0 


9.0 


45.0 


5.0 


90.8 


25.0 


32.0 


9.5 


28.2 


2.0 


9.0 


5.0 



Total 
crude 
fiber 



25.0 



7.0 



The cows average, let us say, i,ooo pounds in 
weight, and yield on an average 30 pounds of milk 
daily. According to the standard the total feed 
requirements per day and head will be as follows : 
Dry matter, 27 to 33 pounds ; digestible protein, 2.2 
to 2.5 pounds; starch value, 11.8 to 13.9 pounds. 

The first step is to determine the starch value of 
each of these feeding stufifs. Taking the feeds in 
order, the following calculation will be made : 

1. Starch value, 100 pounds linseed cake = ( (25 

X .94) + 32 + (9-5 X 24) ) X .97 = 76.3 

2. Starch value, 100 pounds oats r= ( (9 x -94) + 

45 + (5 X 2.1)) X .95 = 60.8 

3. Starch value, 100 pounds clover hay = (5.4 X 

.94) + (38 — (25 X 0.58) + (1.5 X 1.9) = 

30.9 

4. Starch value, 100 pounds green alfalfa = (2 

X -94) + (9 — (7 X 36) + (0.5 X 1.9) = 

931 
The next step in the construction of the ration is 
to choose the quantity of each feed that is to be used. 
This will be governed by what is good practice, 
leaving the actual balancing of the ration to the con- 
centrates that are to be supplied in addition. As a 



COMPUTING RATIONS BY STARCH VALUES 



91 



trial we will use 12 pounds of clover hay, 20 pounds 
of green alfalfa and 10 pounds of oats. These, 
properly arranged, show the following: 



TRIAL RATION FOR 1,000-POUND DAIRY COW 



Feeding stuffs 


Dry 
matter 


Digestible 
protein 


Starch 
values 


10 lbs clover hay .... 

20 lbs green alfalfa . . 

7 lbs oats 


Pounds 
8.47 
5.64 
6.23 

20.34 


Pounds 
0.54 
0.50 
0.63 

1.67 


Pounds 
3.09 
1.86 
4 75 


Totals 


9.71 






Standard 


27 to 33 


2.2 to 2.5 


11.8 to 13.9 



On comparing with the standard, it is found that 
the trial ration is slightly under in all respects. To 
correct this we add three pounds of linseed cake. 
This done, we have: 



Feeding stuffs 


Dry 

matter 


Digestible 
protein 


Starch 
values 


12 lbs clover hay . . . 
20 lbs green alfalfa, . 

7 lbs oats 

3 lbs linseed cake 
meal 

Totals 


Pounds 

10.11 

5.64 

6.23 

2.94 

24.92 


Pounds 
0.65 
0.50 
0.63 

0.75 

2.43 


Pounds 
3.70 
1.86 
4.76 

2.38 

12.70 


Standard 


27 to 33 


2.2 to 2.5 


11.8 to 13.9 



The second trial ration meets the requirements 
for protein and starch values, but is slightly under 
in dry matter. From this we see that 10 pounds of 



92 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

clover hay, 20 pounds of green alfalfa, 7 pounds of 
oats and 3 pounds of linseed cake meal make a sat- 
isfactory ration for dairy cows giving 30 pounds of 
milk daily and weighing 1,000 pounds. This is in 
accordance with the Kellner standard, is in line with 
good practice, and in general is consistent with the 
other standards used in the calculations of rations 
for dairy cows. 



CHAPTER XI 

USING ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING 
RATIONS 

Feeding Stuffs Possess Energy. — When food is 
consumed and utilized in the animal system vital 
and muscular energy is produced. Any feeding 
stuff, therefore, is fuel for the animal that consumes 
it. The chemical energy contained in that food 
will be set free just as the energy stored in coal or 
wood or oil or alcohol is set free when burned in an 
engine. In either case heat is developed and work 
results. ' 

The value of any material as a fuel substance will 
naturally depend on how much chemical energy that 
material contains. Both the quantity and the qual^ 
ity must be determined in order to get a fair meas- 
ure of its energy value. Armsby^ has worked out a 
plan for utilizing these energy values in feeding 
farm animals. He not only has prepared tables that 
show the energy value of a number of feeding stuffs, 
but has formulated feeding standards and a prac- 

^The idea of using- energy values in the computation of 
rations for farm animals originated with Dr. Kellner of 
Germany. Dr. Henry Prentiss Armsby, Director of the In- 
stitute of Animal Nutrition of the Pennsylvania State College, 
has expressed the energy value of the feed in still another 
manner. Kellner attempted to express energy value as starch 
value because this is so familiarly known. Armsby, on the 
other hand, has followed the simpler and more direct manner 
of expressing these values by coming- out boldly and entirely 
to the energy notations, using- the therm as the unit instead 
of the calorie, simply to avoid unnecessarily large numbers. 
Either manner of expression is entirely justifiable, and in the 
two methods the values are identical. 



94 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



tical plan for computing rations for farm animals 
based on them. 

Units of Measuring Heat.— Quite generally the 
fuel value of any material is expressed in calories. 
A calorie is the amount of heat required to raise one 
pound of water four degrees Fahrenheit. In the 




Laborator-i Where Food Values Are Determined 

This picture gives a general view of Armsby's respiration apparatus for 
determining the net energy of the feeding stuffs. 



Armsby standards the fuel or net energy value is 
expressed in therms. A therm is the quantity of heat 
required to raise the temperature of i,ooo kilograms 
of v^ater one degree centigrade; it equals i,ooo calo- 
ries and therefore represents the amount of heat 
required to raise i,ooo pounds of water four degrees 
Fahrenheit. 



ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING RATIONS 95 

Waste of Chemical Energy. — Not all the energy 
contained in a feeding stuff or ration is utilized. A 
certain quantity is never digested, but is excreted as 
dung. Another loss of chemical energy arises from 
combustible gases due to fermentation of feed in 
the digestive tract. Still another source of lost 
energy is material passing out of the system in urine. 
Armsby states that 22 per cent of the chemical en- 
ergy of corn meal and 55 per cent of that of average 
hay has been found to escape in these v^ays. 

But one of the most important causes of energy 
loss is that occasioned by the processes of digestion, 
in which the energy that is utilized for fattening 
increase or other productive uses must be separated 
from the consumed material. 

All of these factors enter into the digestive prob- 
lem and consume much of the contained nutrients 
for other functions than those of tissue or fat in- 
crease, or fuel, or energy. 

Energy Values in Feeds. — Feeding stuffs possess 
both a maximum amount of chemical energy and a 
certain quantity of net energy. The former refers to 
the theoretical quantity, and the latter to that w^hich 
is actually available for productive uses. It is w^ith 
the net energy that the feeder has to deal in the 
preparation of his rations. From tests made by 
means of the respiration calorimeter much definite 
knov^ledge has been obtained, so as to permit ap- 
proximate estimates showing the net energy in con- 
nection with the total dry matter and digestible pro- 
tein. This is shown ir the following table : 



96 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



DRY MATTER, DIGESTIBLE PROTEIN, AND ENERGY VALUES 
IN 100 POUNDS (aRMSBY) 



Feeding stuffs 



Green fodder and silage 

Alfalfa 

.Clover (crimson) 

Clover (red) 

Corn fodder (green) . . 

Corn silage 

Hungarian grass 

Rape 

Rye 

Timothy 

Hay and dry coarse fodders 

Alfalfa hay 

Clover hay (red) .... 
Corn forage, (field 

cured 

Corn stover 

Cowpea hay 

Hungarian hay 

Oat hay 

Soy bean hay 

Timothy hay 

Straws 

Oat straw 

Rye straw 

Wheat straw 

Roots and tubers 

Carrots 

Mangel-wurzels 

Potatoes 

Rutabagas 

Turnips 

Grains 

Barley 

Corn 

Corn-and-cob meal .... 

Oats 

Pea meal 

Rye 

Wheat 

By-products 

Brewers' grains (dried) 
Brewers' grain (wet) . . 
Buckwheat middlings. . 
Cottonseed meal 



Total dry 
matter 



Pounds 

28.2 
19.1 
29.2 
20.7 
25.6 
28.9 
14.3 
23.4 
38.4 



91.6 

84.7 

57.8 
59.5 
89.3 
92.3 
84.0 
88.7 
86.8 



90.8 
92.9 
90.4 



11.4 

9.1 

21.1 

11.4 

9.4 



89.1 
89.1 
84.9 
89.0 
89.5 
88.4 
89.5 



92.0 
24.3 
88.2 
91.8 



Digestible 
protein 



Pounds 

2.50 
2.19 
2.21 
0.41 
1.21 
1.33 
2.16 
1.44 
1.04 



2.05 



1.09 
0.63 
0.37 



0.37 
0.14 
0.45 
0.88 
0.22 



8.37 
6.79 
4.53 
8.36 
16.77 
8.12 
8.90 



19.04 

3.81 

22.34 

35.15 



ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING RATIONS 97 



Feeding stuffs 



By-products — Continued 
Distillers' grains (dried) 
Principally corn .... 

Principally rye 

Gluten feed (dried) . . . 
Gluten meal (Buffalo) . 
Gluten meal (Chicago) 
Linseed meal (old 

process) 

Linseed meal (new 

process) 

Malt sprouts 

Rye bran '. . . 

Sugar-beet pulp (fresh) 
Sugar-beet pulp (dried) 

Wheat bran 

Wheat middlings 



Total dry 
matter 



Pounds 

93.0 
93.2 
91.9 
91.8 
90.5 

90.8 

90.1 
89.8 
88.2 
10.1 
93.6 
88.1 
84.0 



Digestible 
protein 



Pounds 

21.93 
10.38 
19.95 
21.56 
33.09 

27.54 



Energy 
value 



Therms 

79.23 
60.93 

79.32 
88.80 
78.49 

78.92 



29.26 


74.67 


12.36 


46.33 


11.35 


56.65 


0.63 


7.77 


6.80 


60.10 


10.21 


48.23 


12.79 


77.65 




Revealing Facts About Digestion 

The steer is harnessed in apparatus as used by Dr. Armsby in his digestion 
experiments. 

Requirements for Maintenance. — Armsby has in- 
cluded the results of Kellner's experiments with his 
own, and from these he has devised certain guides 
to be used in connection with the food requirements 
for different classes of farm animals. He first takes 



98 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Up the maintenance requirements, or the amount of 
digestible protein and net energy necessary for an 
animal when making no growth or other produc- 
tion, or when doing no work. Standards for swine 
are not included, as no satisfactory figures are avail- 
able. The maintenance standards suggested are as 
follows : 

MAINTENANCE STANDARD FOR CATTLE, HORSES AND 
SHEEP (ARMSBY) 





Cattle 


Horses 


Sheep 




<D 




01 






01 






,Q 




3 






Xi 




2^ 


5^ 


IS 


ha 






11 


^0) 


Lbs 


Lbs 


Therms 


Lbs 


Therms 


Lbs 


Lbs 


Therms 


150 


0.15 


1.70 


0.30 


2.00 


20 


0.23 


0.30 


250 


0,20 


, 2.40 


0.40 


2.80 


40 


0.05 


0.54 


500 


0.30 


3.80 


0.60 


4.40 


60 


0.07 


0.71 


750 


0.40 


4.95 


0.80 


5.80 


80 


0.09 


0.87 


1,000 


0.50 


6.00 


1.00 


7.00 


100 


0.10 


1.00 


1,250 


0.60 


7.00 


1.20 


8.15 


120 


0.11 


1.13 


1,500 


0.65 


7.90 


1.30 


9.20 


140 


0.13 


1.25 



Requirements for Growth. — Young animals con- 
sume more food than adult animals in relation to the 
weight of the body. They lay on much less fat and 
carry much more water in their increase. As they 
grow older and exercise more freely, additional sup- 
plies of food are necessary for the production of heat 
and mechanical work. These demands give rise to 
a constantly changing balance of food nutrients. 
The following estimates are for growing cattle and 
sheep : 



il 



ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING RATIONS 



99 



energy value of one pound of gain in weight 
(armsby) 



Age 


Energy value 


Months 


Therms 


3 
6 
12 
18 
24 
30 


1.50 
1.75 
2.00 
2.50 
2.75 
3.00 



These figures apply to growth only. The require- 
ments for maintenance must be added to get the 
amount necessary for both purposes. This has been 
done in the following table : 



DAILY REQUIREMENTS FOR GROWTH AND MAINTENANCE 

(armsby) 



Cattle 


Sheep 






01 








(D 
























.Q 








.Q 






■M 


■-M fl 


h 






■^ l=! 


>- 


^ 




11 








bto 




< 


^^ 


■fia 


H> 


lj 


>A^ 


5ft 

Lbs 


H> 


Mo's 


Lbs 


Lbs 


Therms 


Mo's 


Lbs 


Therms 


3 


275 


1.10 


5.0 


6 


70 


0.30 


1.30 


6 


425 


1.30 


6.0 


9 


90 


0.25 


1.40 


12 


650 


1.65 


7.0 


12 


110 


0.23 


1.40 


18 


850 


1.70 


7.5 


15 


130 


0.23 


1.50 


24 


1,000 


1.75 


8.0 


18 


145 


0.22 


1.60 


30 


1,100 


1.65 


8.0 











Requirements for Fattening. — Armsby estimates 
that fairly mature steers from two to three years of 



100 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



age will require approximately 3.5 therms a pound 
of gain in live weight. 

Requirements for Milk. — Armsby estimates that 
for the production of milk containing 13 per cent 
of total solids and 4 per cent of fat approximately 
0.3 of one therm of production value in the feed will 
be required daily. 

Requirements for Work. — The estimate below is 
for work horses weighing 1,000 pounds. Both the 
work and maintenance requirements are included : 



REQUIREMENTS 


FOR WORK HORSES 


(armsby) 


Kind of work 


Digestible protein 


Energy value 


For light work 

For medium work . . . 
For heavy work 


Pounds 
1.0 
1.4 
2.0 


Therms 

9.80 

12.40 

16.00 



Computing a Ration for Steers. — Suppose a steer 
weighing 1,000 pounds is to be brought to weigh 
1,500 pounds in 250 days. This will mean an aver- 
age daily gain of two pounds, just what in practice 
is considered satisfactory. Our problem is to pre- 
pare a suitable ration at reasonable cost to do this. 
How shall we proceed? 

As a satisfactory starting point we will need to 
determine the number of therms of energy value 
needed for two pounds of daily increase. Taking the 
standard, 3.5 therms for one pound of gain, this steer 
would require 7 therms of energy value each day 
as the fattening requirement. Taking 1,250 pounds 
as the average weight during the feeding period, 



ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING RATIONS 



lOI 



the maintenance requirements as set forth by Arms- 
l:y will be J therms for an animal making this daily 
gain in weight. This, added to what is required for 
fattening increase, will bring the total energy re- 
quirement to 14 therms of net energy for each day 
up to the time when the steer weighs 1,250 pounds. 
The protein requirements for this steer, as given 




Mature Steers Nearly Ready for Market 

Many steers are finished at pasture, the grain supply being increased as 
the fattening period advances. Pasture as the sole feed is not .best for 
finishing fattening animals. 



previously, are 1.65 pounds daily The complete 
standard, then, will be as follows : Digestible pro- 
tein, 1.65 pounds; energy value, 14 therms. 

Our second step is to select the feeding stuffs and 
to combine them in such proportion as will best 
meet the feeding standard. Let us assume that 
clover hay is available as roughage, and corn and 
cob meal as a concentrate. In practice we know 



102 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



that 10 pounds of hay and 15 pounds of grain are 
often used in that proportion as a beef ration. Our 
problem is to learn how nearly this combination of 
the amounts given approaches the standard and if 
any additional food may be given so as to improve 
on the ration. By consulting the table giving the 
protein and energy values of feeding stuffs, we find 
that in 100 pounds of clover hay there are 34.7 
therms energy value, and in corn and cob meal 72.0 
therms. Therefore we have : 

Therms 

In 100 pounds of clover hay 34.7 

In 150 pounds of corn and cob meal 108.0 

In 250 pounds of feed 142.7 

In 1 pound 565 

To supply 14 therms divide 14 by .565 to obtain 
the number of pounds of this combination for the 
daily energy requirements. 

Thus, 14 -^ .565 = 24.8 pounds, of which i%5, or 
9.9 pounds, is to be clover hay and ^%5, or 14.9 
pounds, is to be corn and cob meal, or 10 and 15 pounds 
each approximately. This quantity meets the energy 
I'equirement, but is there enough or too much protein ? 
This will be determined by proceeding as below : 





Dry 
matter 


Digestible 


nutrients 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Energy 
value 


10 pounds clover hay 

15 pounds corn and cob meal 

Totals 

Standard 


Pounds 

8.87 
9.34 

18.21 


Pounds 
0.54 
0.68 

1.22 

1.65 


Therms 
3.47 
10.81 

14.28 

14.00 



ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING RATIONS 



103 



Here we find the protein is under, and the energy 
value slightly over, the daily requirements. The 
ration is, therefore, not quite satisfactory. To im- 
prove it w^e will reduce the corn and cob meal by 
three pounds and add two pounds of cottonseed 
meal. The ration will then be as follows : 





Dry 

matter 


Digestible nutrients 


Feeding stuffs 


Protein 


Energy 
value 


10 pounds clover hay 

12 pounds corn and cob meal. 
2 pounds cottonseed meal 

Totals 


Pounds 

8.87 
7.47 
1.83 

18.17 


Pounds 
0.54 
0.55 
0.70 

1.79 


Therms 
3.47 
8.65 
1.68 

13.80 






1.65 


14 00 







By substituting two pounds of cottonseed meal for 
three pounds of corn and cob meal the ration has 
been greatly improved, since the deficiency of pro- 
tein has been brought up to, and even beyond, the 
standard. The revised ration almost exactly approx- 
imates the standard in energy value, and, also, the 
quantity of dry matter is easily handled by a steer 
of this age and weight. 

Computing a Ration for Dairy Cows. — If a ration 
is to be computed for dairy cows the first step will 
be to determine the food requirements. If it is as- 
sumed that the cows weigh 1,000 pounds and yield 
daily 25 pounds of milk, there will be needed 0.5 
of a pound of digestible protein and 6.00 therms of 
energy for maintenance. For the production of 25 



104 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



pounds of milk there will be needed 1.25 (0.05 X 
25) pounds of digestible protein and 7.5 (0.3 X -5) 
therms of energy value. The total daily food require- 
ments per animal will therefore be : 



Purpose 


Digestible protein 


Energy value 


For maintenance 

For 25 pounds milk .... 

Totals . . . 


Pounds 
0.50 
1.25 

1.75 


Therms 
6.00 
7.50 

13 50 







The second step in the computation is to decide 
on the kind and quantity of the feeding stuffs. 
Assuming that corn stover, corn silage, and clover 
hay are available, we will use such quantities as 
have been found in practice to be satisfactory, 
although used in varying quantities. As a starting 
point, we will use 5 pounds of corn stover, 10 pounds 
of clover hay and 30 pounds of corn silage. Con- 
sulting the table giving the digestible protein and 
energy values, we find that in 100 pounds of each 
of the above feeding stuffs the following will be fur- 
nished : 



Feeding stuffs 


Dry matter 


Digestible 
protein 


Energy value 


Corn stover 

Clover hay 

Corn silage 


Pounds 

59.5 
84.7 
25.6 


Pounds 
1.80 
5.41 
1.21 


Therms 
26.53 
34.74 
16.56 



We now calculate the amounts of digestible pro- 
tein and of energy contained in the quantity of each 
feed selected and arrange them as below: 



ENERGY VALUES FOR COMPUTING RATIONS IO5 

TRYING OUT THE RATION COMPARED WITH THE ARMSBY 
STANDARD 



Feeding stuffs 


Dry 
matter 


Digestible 
protein 


.Energy 
value 


5 pounds corn stover ...... 

10 pounds clover hay 

30 pounds corn silage 

Totals 


Pounds 

2.97 

8.47 
7.68 

19.12 


Pounds 
0.09 
0.54 
0.36 

0.99 


Therms 
1.33' 
3.47 
4.95 

9 75 










1.75 


13 50 







Compared with the standard we find a deficiency 
in every instance, therefore it will now be necessary 
to introduce into the ration one or more feeds to cor- 
rect the faults so evident in this trial ration. Since 
there is a greater lack of the protein than of energy 
value, we will select concentrates from among such 
feeding stuffs as are particularly rich in protein. Sup- 
pose we use I pound of gluten meal, i pound of cot- 
tonseed meal and 3 pounds of dried beet pulp, and 
add these to the ration. 



SECOND TRIAL RATION FOR DAIRY COWS 



Feeding stuffs 


Dry 
matter 


Digestible 
protein 


Energy 
value 


5 pounds corn stover 

10 pounds clover hay 

30 pounds corn silage 

1 pound cottonseed meal . . . 

1 pound gluten meal 

3 pounds dried beet pulp . . 

Totals 


Pounds 

2.97 
8.47 
7.68 
0.91 
0.91 
2.80 

23.74 


Pounds 
0.09 
0.54 
0.36 
0.35 
0.21 
0.20 

1.75 


Therms 
1.33 
3.47 
4.95 
0.84 
0.88 
1.80 

13 27 






Standard 




1.75 


13.50 







Io6 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

The second trial corresponds very nearly to the 
standard. The protein does this with exactness, 
while the energy value is just slightly under what 
the standard calls for. This is of small importance 
since, as explained heretofore, it is not expected that 
the rations shall be made to meet the standards with 
mathematical accuracy. The aim should be to ap- 
proximate them. From this we learn that, accord- 
ing to the Armsby standard, a satisfactory ration for 
milk cows weighing i,ooo pounds and yielding 25 
pounds of milk daily may consist of 5 pounds of corn 
stover, 10 pounds of clover hay, 30 pounds of silage, 
I pound of cottonseed meal, i pound of gluten meal, 
and 3 pounds of dried beet pulp. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE COST OF THE RATION 

The Practical Question. — Secondary only in im- 
portance to a proper balance of the feeds is the cost 
of the ration. It is much to have a ration approxi- 
mate the theoretical standard, since it is necessary 
to get the digestible nutrients in reasonable propor- 
tion in order to obtain success in the feed lot or the 
dairy stable. A dairy cow, if given an insufficient 
amount of protein, will show the shortage sooner 
or later in her milk yield; and the beef steer, while 
he may make good gains by laying on fat, will lack 
quality at the block and will show gains, likely, at 
considerable cost. In both instances if some of the 
non-nitrogenous feeding stuffs were to be exchanged 
for one or more of a more protein nature, the pro- 
ductive ends might be more perceptible and the 
units of gain might be more cheaply acquired. 

It is always important to use as the basis of every 
farm ration just as much of the farm-raised feeds as 
is possible. In the first place farm animals provide 
a market right at home, and at the same time they 
are generous to the farm because of the manure they 
return to the soil. The less feed that is purchased 
the less the labor required to get concentrated grains 
from the distributing centers. Nevertheless, it is 
generally profitable to use some of the mill concen- 
trates for purposes of balancing the ration and to 

107 




108 



THE COST OF THE RATION IO9 

induce larger consumption — two conditions always 
consistent with large production with any class of 
animals. However, there is much objection to heavy 
grain feeding, as every practical feeder knows. 
What profit is there in expending much for grain if 
the additional production is wholly absorbed in the 
feed bills? Much has been said and written in re- 
cent years about the proper proportion of grain to 
roughage in the feeding ration. In the past, per- 
haps, the roughage allotment in proportion to the 
grain was too large, and to-day perhaps it is the 
reverse. 

Two Rations Compared on Basis of Cost. — Some 
years ago two rations were compared in milk pro- 
duction at the Ohio station. One consisted largely 
of a corn-soybean-cowpea silage, and mixed hay; 
and the other of more than half grain. The first 
produced 96.7 pounds of milk for each 100 pounds, 
based on the dry matter contained in it, and the sec- 
ond 81.3 pounds of milk for each 100 pounds, based 
on the dry matter in it. In the one, the silage ration, 
89 per cent was of a roughage nature or farm-raised 
food, while in the other, 43 per cent, or just about 
half as much, was farm-raised. The two rations are 
given in the table on the following page. 

The practical question that arises is this : If both 
are available today, which would cost the more? 
That depends on the prices at which each could be 
purchased; and each and every feeder will need to 
determine that point for himself. However, let us 
assume the following as fair prices for the feeds : Corn 
silage, $2 a ton; corn stover, $5; mixed hay, $12; 



no 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



linseed oil meal, $34; wheat bran, $30; and corn 
meal, $30. At these prices a pound of silage will 
be worth .1 cent; of corn stover, .4 cent; mixed 
hay, .6 cent; oil meal, 1.7 cents; bran, 1.5 cents; and 
corn meal, 1.5 cents. The cost of the two rations 
would therefore be as follows : 

Silage = (58 X .1) + (6.8 X .6) + (2 X i-S)" + 

(2 X 1.5) = 15.88 

Grain = (4.7 X .4) + (64 X -6) + (2.5 X 1.5) + 
(5 X 1-5) + (6 X 1.5) = 25.97 

25.97 — 15.88 = 10.09 cents, the difference m cost 
of the rations. 

SILAGE VERSUS GRAIN FOR MILK COWS 



w 




5 

h 


C w 


««2 


<Btj M 




'O 




V.^ 




bfl^^-a 


rt c 


G 


TJ 


fi 


£ c 


<i> c 


3 


^ 


>. 3 


=s 


3 => 


h 1^ 3 


-Sis 





(U 


s- 


t, 


S 


•- ?? 




P^ 


fe 


Q^ 


fkdH 


OAh 


;2;=sAh 





Silage 
Mixed hay 
Oil meal 
Bran 

Total 


I — Silage ration 


58.0 
6.8 
2.0 
2.0 


10.83 
5.77 
1.80 
1.76 

20.16 


1.37 
0.55 
0.66 
0.31 

2.89 


2.71 
1.90 
0.19 
0.18 

4.98 


5.43 
2.76 
0.77 
1.08 

10.04 


0.53 
0.21 
0.06 
0.08 

0.88 








II— Gr 


ain ratio 


n 




4.7 
6.4 
2.5 
5.0 
6.0 


Stover 
Mixed hay 
Oil meal 
Corn meal 
Bran 

Total 


3.29 
5.43 
2.25 

4.25 
5.29 

20.51 


0.21 
0.52 
0.83 
0.46 
0.92 

2.94 


1.15 
1.79 

0.24 
0.09 
0.54 

3.81 


1.70 
2.60 
0.96 
3.43 
3.23 

11.92 


0.06 
0.19 
0.08 
0.19 
0.24 

0.76 



* In these rations the total composition is given, and not 
the digestible nutrients. 



THE COST OF THE RATION III 

Both of the rations approximate the standard for 
dairy cows, and both are equally good since they 
are productive of a good milk yield. Yet when com- 
pared from the standpoint of cost there is a differ- 
ence of 10.09 cents. It might seem a matter of 
small consequence for a single day and a single cow, 
but for a winter feeding period of seven months and 
40 cows in a herd it assumes a new importance. 
This is seen when the simple calculation is made. 
We have — 

210 days X 40 cows X 10.09 cents = $847.50 
Thus the grain ration, which actually produced 

15.4 pounds less milk for each 100 pounds of dry 
matter, if used instead of the silage ration, provided 
it was available, would mean a net cost of nearly 
$850 more than the other. This amount is sufficient 
to make this dairy venture either a losing or a profit- 
able proposition. 

Two Rations for Horses Compared. — A common 
ration for horses is timothy hay and oats. When 
doing severe work 10 pounds of hay and 14 pounds 
of oats are commonly recommended and used. At 
prevailing prices of $16 a ton for hay and 56 cents a 
bushel for oats, the daily cost would be: 
(10 X ($16 -r- 2,000) ) + (14 X (.56 ~- 32)) = 
32.5 cents 

At the prices just quoted the daily cost for feed- 
ing a medium-sized horse at hard work would be 

32.5 cents a day. The practical question to ask is 
this : Is it possible to substitute some other feed or 
feeds for the more expensive oats and thus reduce 
the daily cost? It is. From many tests made many 



112 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



substitutes may be chosen. Corn, wheat bran, oil 
meal, cottonseed meal, brewers' grains and many 
other feeding stuffs can be substituted for oats. 
Suppose we use 9 pounds of corn and 2 pounds of 
oil meal in place of 14 pounds of oats. The nutrients 
of the two will be as follows : 



OATS VERSUS CORN AND OIL MEAL 





1 1 
Digestible nutrients 


Feed 


Protein 


Carbohydrates 


Fat 


14 pounds oats 

9 pounds corn and 

2 pounds oil meal 


1.28 
1.29 


6.62. 
6.64 


0.58 
0.52 



From the standpoint of nutrients these two are 
approximately equal. Let us compare the two as 
to cost when oats are worth 56 cents a bushel, corn 
65 cents a bushel, and oil meal $30 a ton. In both 
rations 10 pounds of hay are to be given, and hence 
the cost will rest with the kind of grain provided. 
The cost of the two grain rations will be as follows : 
Corn and oil meal = (9 X (.65 ^ 56) ) + (2 X 

($30 -=- 2,000) ) = 13.4 cents 
Oats == 14 X (-56 -^ 32) = 24.5 cents 

Thus at prices quoted, but substituting 9 pounds 
of corn and 2 pounds of oil meal for 14 pounds of 
oats, the same quantity of digestible nutrients can be 
obtained and at a daily saving of ii.i cents a horse. 
If six horses are kept and are fed in accordance with 
this saving for the working period of nine months 
a net saving of $149.82 would result. 



THE COST OF THE RATION II3 

Feeding Stuffs Vary in Price. — The wise feeder 
watches the market prices of the various feeds. To 
a certain extent the law of supply and demand fixes 
the prices for most feeds. When the corn crop is 
large the price drops, and even influences the value 
of other feeds, although there may be a short crop 
of each. Yet from year to year farm grains, hays, 
and commercial feed crops fluctuate within certain 
limits from month to month and from year to year. 
By taking cognizance of this fact and by studying 
the market values of available and desirable feed- 
ing stuffs in relation to their digestible ingredients, 
substitutions can be made, often at a great saving 
and frequently with even more favorable results 
than through the use of the more familiar feeds. 
See that the combination gives a balanced ration, 
and then seek good feeds that will continue the bal- 
ance, selecting those that will most cheaply do it. 
In this way a handsome profit may often be secured 
in addition to greater efficiency. 

Easy to Swap Feeds. — Since transportation is 
now so easy, an exchange of one class for another 
is easily made, furnishing no reason why each sec- 
tion should not have such nutrients as it needs to 
balance properly its standard feeding rations. The 
farmer who has an abundance of timothy and corn, 
which he is now feeding his farm stock, can well 
afford to dispose of a part of one or both and expend 
the entire receipts for some good substitute of equal 
or greater efficiency. By so doing he need not in- 
crease his outlay at all; but he will supply his ani- 
mals with a more satisfactory ration. 



114 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

But there are large quantities of food each year 
going to waste in every section. Thousands and 
thousands of tons of corn stover, cottonseed meal, 
and the by-products of the slaughtering houses rot 
each year in American farm fields. The quantity 
of this rich animal food and real wealth is so vast 
as to be almost beyond estimation. Much of it is 
wasted and unutilized each year. Of course, these 



i 




materials help the soil, but they could help the ani-l 
mal first, and to the land might go the resulting 
manure, doing the land as much good as the raw 
animal food. 

Use Judgment in Purchasing Feeds. — Often very 
poor judgment is shown in the purchase of feeds. 
Just think of the great quantities of timothy and 
other hays that are each year sent into some sec- 
tion to be fed to live stock! It is not wise farm 



THE COST OF THE RATION II5 

management to buy timothy hay, and yet this prac- 
tice prevails in many parts of the country. It is not 
economical feeding. There is no special virtue in 
timothy hay. A feeding stuff is valuable only in pro- 
portion to its ability to furnish protein, carbohy- 
drates and fat. Why buy timothy hay when it is 
little better than corn stover as a feed ? Grow plenty 
of corn and the legumes, and you need not bother 
about timothy hay. The good farmer and the wise 
feeder aims to have some legume crop at all times. 

Grow the Legumes. — Cowpeas and clovers and 
alfalfa are needed, not only to catch nitrogen out of 
the air and store it in the soil so as to maintain the 
fertility of the land, and add humus thereto, but 
they are needed as feed for cattle and sheep and hogs 
and horses. Many feeding experiments have shown 
that in feeding value, either of these three feeds is 
not much less than wheat bran. 

Many farmers do not grow wheat, yet they buy 
wheat bran for the protein it contains, because they 
look upon wheat bran as a valuable feeding stuff. 
And it is ; but, in addition to being good, it is also 
costly. It takes money from the pocket. Still, if a 
man could sow ten acres or more each year to a crop 
of wheat bran, and if he could sow the wheat bran 
just as he can now sow cowpeas or alfalfa or clover, 
and if he could get two tons or more of bran an acre, 
the practice would become general throughout the 
country. And why? Because every farmer has 
learned of the value of wheat bran as a feed. But if 
alfalfa and cowpeas and clover are almost as good 
as wheat bran for all feeding purposes, why refrain 



ii6 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



from growing alfalfa, cowpeas and clover when you 
can get from three to six tons of the former and a 
ton and a half to three tons an acre of the latter two 
crops from the land, and by so doing get feeding 
crops that actually are unexcelled? 






CHAPTER XIII 
COST OF NUTRIENTS 

Bulk Food Should Be Home-Grown. — Little 
needs to be said about the importance of growing 
on the farm all the bulk food required for live stock. 
For one thing, the greater part of the feeding stuffs 
can be grown cheaper than they can be bought of 
someone else. Practically all materials grown on 
the farm and used for feeding purposes are low in 
protein but correspondingly high in other nutrients. 
The farmer can raise all the carbohydrates and fat 
needed for either the dairy or the block; but, un- 
fortunately, there are no feeding stuffs made up 
wholly of protein. If there were, the balancing of 
rations in reference to cost would be a very simple 
process indeed. 

Protein Not Solely Purchased. — Though protein 
is the constituent most needed on most farms when 
purchased, other nutrients must be taken along with 
the protein. Carbohydrates and fat are present in 
all feeding stuffs, and they have a commercial value. 
Consequently when we buy protein we get carbo- 
hydrates and fat also. It should not be understood 
that these latter constituents are a trouble or a nui- 
sance ; they have a value. But you readily see it is 
unfortunate to purchase them when their like can 
be secured at home. It suggests the same idea that 

117 




118 



COST OF NUTRIENTS IIQ 

a necktie always must h<t purchased with a collar. 
One may never wear a necktie, or he may have all 
the ties he needs at home, yet every time he buys a 
collar he is obliged to pay for a necktie as well. If 
a necktie is not needed, but only a collar, it is likely 
the rule would be to get the collar having the least 
necktie about it and the value of the purchase depend 
wholly upon the collar and nothing on the necktie. 

If the farmer raises on his farm all he needs of the 
carbohydrates and fat which have a low commercial 
value, he cannot afford to buy more of the same con- 
stituents at a price many times higher than he can 
raise them himself. Yet the feeder is obliged to do 
this very thing when he purchases protein. It can- 
not be helped and it is no one's fault. 

There is a point of practical bearing, however, in 
this matter. If you have to take carbohydrates and 
fat along with protein and pay for them, get as lit- 
tle of the carbohydrates and fat in the feeding stuff 
as possible and just as much protein as you can. 
The aim should be to buy the feeding stuff having 
the highest quantity of digestible protein that costs 
the least for a pound of protein. 

Expressed in a few words, a good rule to follow 
is this : Grow all the carbohydrates and fat on the 
farm; never be placed in a position that requires 
you to purchase any. Then grow the protein rough- 
ages, like clover, cowpeas and alfalfa, and little 
protein will need to be bought. This is economical 
and practical feeding. It is good farming. 

Purchase of Protein. — It is not always practical 
or possible under ordinary methods of farm practice 



120 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

to grow all the protein on the farm. Hence this 
nutrient must be secured elsewhere. This is done 
either through purchase of grain materials not raised 
on the farm, or the purchase of by-products from 
manufacturing concerns. Bran comes from flour 
mills, gluten products and meal from the manufac- 
turing of starch, and cottonseed meal from the oil 
mills, and various other mill products from other 
forms of manufacture. There is a long list of con- 
centrates as the source of protein consumption. The 
feeder is interested in knowing which of them he 
shall purchase. Three things will aid him in the 
selection : The protein content, the total digestible 
nutrients, and the market price of the feeding stuff. 
A wise selection requires the three to be consid- 
ered together. For instance, the following food- 
stuffs at market prices are available to a feeder : 

Corn ■ ■ ' 65 cents a bushel 

Oats 56 cents a bushel 

Gluten meal $30 a ton 

Cottonseed meal $32 a ton 

Bran $30 a ton 

Using the above as examples, which shall be 
selected if the feeder simply desires to get protein 
for the purpose of balancing a ration, having as its 
basic constituents feeding stuffs raised on the farm? 
In other words, if the feeder is abundantly supplied 
with roughage materials like corn stover, silage, 
grass, and legume hays, what concentrate shall. he 
select in order to get protein to balance his ration? 

The sensible thing to do is to determine which 
food furnishes a pound of protein at least cost. We 
find in lOO pounds of each of these feeds the follow- 
ing quantities of protein are to be obtained : 



COST OF NUTRIENTS 



121 



PROTEIN IN 


CERTAIN FEEDING STUFFS 






Pounds of digestible protein 


Feeding stuffs 


In 100 pounds 


In 1 ton 


Corn 

Oats 


7.9 

9.2 

32.2 

37.2 

12.2 


158 
184 


Gluten meal 

Cottonseed meal 

Bran 


644 

744 
244 



A ton of corn contains 158 pounds of protein, 
which is worth 65 cents a bushel, or $25 a ton. One 
pound of protein will therefore cost 2,500 divided by 
158, or 15.8-}- cents a pound. 

In like manner the cost of a pound of protein in 
each feeding stuff is determined, giving us the fol- 
lowing : 



Feeding stuffs 


Price per 
ton 


Pounds diges- 
tible nrotein 
per ton 


Cost per pound 

protein in 

cents 


Corn 


$25 
35 
30 
32 
30 


158 
184 
644 

744 
244 


15 8 


Oats 


18 9 


Gluten meal . . . 
Cottonseed meal 
Bran 


4.5 

4.3 

12 3 







Here we see that at the prices assumed cottonseed 
meal and gluten meal are by far the cheapest sources 
of protein. 

The same method is followed in determining the 
protein value of every other foodstuff. So simple is 
it, every feeder and stockman should make it a point 
to determine always the feeding values of different 
feeding stuffs in this comparative manner. 



122 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



On Basis of Total Digestible Nutrients. — The 

comparative cost of digestible nutrients is deter- 
mined in the same way and has an important bear- 
ing on feeding farm animals. If it is necessary to 
purchase some grain or concentrated feeding stufY, 
in addition to a comparison of the protein, let the 
quantity of total digestible nutrients be taken in 
consideration also. A feeding stuff that will furnish 
not only the protein, but the total digestible nutri- 
ents, at the cheapest cost per pound, other things 
being satisfactory, should certainly be the one chosen. 
Using the same feeds as before, we have the fol- 
lowing : 





Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds 




Feeding stufCs 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Total 


Total 
digestible 
nutrients 
in one ton 


Corn 


7.9 

9.2 

32.2 

37.2 

12.2 


66.7 
47.3 
43.3 
16.9 
39.2 


4.3 

4.2 
11.0 
12.2 

2.7 


78.9 
60.7 
80.1 
66.3 
54.1 


1,578 
1,214 
1,730 
1,326 
1,082 


Oats 

Gluten meal . . 
Cottonseed meal 





In the following table is shown the price a pound 
of digestible nutrients when the market price a ton 
and total digestible nutrients are given : 



I 



Feeding stuffs 


• Market 
price 


Total 
digestible 
nutrients 


Price in cents 
per pound 

of digestible 
nutrients 


Corn 


$25 
35 
30 
32 
30 


1,578 
1,214 
1,730 
1,326 
1,080 


1 5 


Oats . . 


2 8 


Gluten meal 

Cottonseed meal . . . 
Bran 


1.2 
2.4 

2 8 







COST OF NUTRIENTS 



•123 



Here we find that a pound of digestible nutrients 
is most costly in oats and wheat bran ; and cheapest 
in gluten, corn, and cottonseed meal. 

The various kinds of feeding stuffs can be de- 
termined in this manner by obtaining the market 
prices and dividing these prices by the quantities 
of total digestible nutrients of the respective feed- 
ing materials. Taking these facts in consideration, 
with the cost of a pound of protein in each, and then 
the purposes for which the feed is given, it is possi- 
ble to make a more intelligible selection than on the 
basis of cost only. If dairy cows are to be fed, then 
clearly gluten or cottonseed meal would be chosen, 
and particularly would this be true if grass hays, 
silage and corn stover were at hand in abundance. 

Using Judgment in Getting Protein. — In purchas- 
ing protein judgment must be exercised in selecting 
the carrier of it. For instance, corn is cheaper than 
bran on the basis of total digestible nutrients, but 
if for the dairy, bran should be purchased rather than 
corn, because the bran contains nearly twice the 
amount of protein. Cottonseed meal contains just 
about five times the quantity of digestible protein 
that corn does. If the two could be purchased at the 
same price per pound of digestible nutrients, cotton- 
seed meal would be many times more valuable than 
corn, because of the very much larger quantity of 
protein. 

Roughage Materials should be as carefully 
selected as the concentrates. It is often advisable to 
sell one kind of feeding stuff and purchase one or 
more kinds in exchange. It is usually economy to 



124 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

sell corn and oats and make an outright purchase 
of cottonseed meal, gluten meal and bran, if dairy 
cows are to be fed. Often one can sell roughage 
materials to good advantage and secure others that 
contain more of the constituents desired, and in so 
doing the amount of concentrated foods can be cut 
down. 

If the feeder uses corn stover and timothy hay, he 
will necessarily be forced to balance his rations with 
concentrated materials. On the other hand, if he 
uses cowpea hay, alfalfa or clover hay in the main 
for roughage, the necessary grain material will be 
small. In many markets timothy hay is sold for $20 
to $30 a ton and up, while cowpea hay, alfalfa and 
clover sell for $20 a ton and under. You see at once 
that the legume hays are the most economical, for 
they contain several times more digestible protein 
than timothy. It is to the feeder's advantage to dis- 
pose of the timothy, often, and with the same money 
purchase the legume hays. The saving in corn and 
bran or other concentrates will be clear profit. Of 
course, the desirable way is to grow the legumes in 
abundance; then, with much silage, the call for pur- 
chased grain, or concentrates, will be of little con- 
sequence. 



CHAPTER XIV 

FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS 

Food Requirements of the Young. — Young ani- 
mals require food that will form tissue and bone 
rapidly. Hence, nitrogenous and mineral substances 
must be supplied abundantly; and from sources that 
appeal to the taste and that are easily digested. In 
this supply milk comes first. It is nature's choice, 




The Newly Born Require Colostrum 

When an offspring is born, the dam for a period of a few days secretes 

colostrum. This milk acts beneficially on the digestive tract. 

and for young animals is the most desirable. It 
contains the necessary nutrients in a properly bal- 
anced form, in most cases is liberally provided by 
the mother, and in all respects is the ideal food to 
start the offspring on its way to maturity. 

125 



126 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Milk contains not only protein and ash, but fat, 
sugar and water also. But the protein of milk is in 
a much larger proportion to the fat than is the case 
with other food that meets all nutritive requirements 
at later periods of growth. And at the time of birth 
this is particularly the case. When a calf, for in- 
stance, has just been born, the dam for a period of 
a few days secretes colostrum. This fluid, or first 
milk, is of a very concentrated description. It is 
yellow or yellowish in color, is of a viscid nature, 
possesses a peculiar smell and salty taste. As it is 
slightly purgative, it acts beneficially on the diges- 
tive tract, and, if the young is to be started forward 
favorably, it should not be withheld. 

Colostrum. — Compared with ordinary milk, colos- 
trum is rich in protein and the mineral substances, 
but relatively lower in milk sugar and fat. In five 
days to a week after birth the secretion of milk in- 
creases, and the composition gradually changes from 
colostrum to ordinary milk. The composition of 
cow's milk at calving and at a later period shows the 
higher food value of the first milk. This will be 
observed below : 



DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS OF COW S MILK IN 100 POUNDS 





Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients 




Kind 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Nutritive 
ratio 


Colostrum . . . 
Ordinary milk 


25.4 
12.8 


17.6 
3.6 


2.7 
4.9 


3.6 
3.7 


1:0.6 
1:3.8 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS 



127 



From this comparison we note the large amount 
of dry matter and protein in the first milk as against 
ordinary milk. With both kinds there is almost 
perfect digestibility. The proportion of the protein 
or tissue formers to the fat or heat producers is 
much higher in colostrum than in ordinary milk, and 
in each more than in most vegetable and commer- 
cial foods. The nutritive ratio of colostrum is in the 
proportion of one of protein to six-tenths of fat and 
sugar, and of ordinary milk of one of protein to 3.7 
of fat and sugar. This difference indicates the rapid 
change that takes place In the milk soon after the birth 
of the offspring. The protein diminishes, while both 
the fat and the sugar increase. 

Ration Should Be Changed as Age Advances.— As 
young animals grow older and consequently enlarge 
in size they call for increasing amounts of the heat 
and fat-producing elements. This is Illustrated in 
the table below, and Is based on 1,000 pounds live 
weight : 



FOOD REQUIREMENTS OF GROWING CALVES 



Live weight 


Dry 




Carbo- 




Nutritive 


of calf 


matter 


Protein 


hydrates 


Fat 


• ratio 


150 


23 


4.0 


13.0 


2.0 


1:4.5 


300 


24 


3.0 


12.8 


1.0 


1:5.1 


500 


27 


2.0 


12.5 


0.5 


1:6.8 


700 


26 


1.8 


12.5 


0.4 


1:7.5 


900 


26 


1.5 


12.0 


0.3 


1:8.5 



This table shows the alterations In the rations of 
a growing calf from shortly after birth up to a period 
of a year or a year and a half. As the calf grows 




128 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS I2g 

older, adding age and weight, the nature of the ra- 
tion changes through decreasing demands for pro- 
tein and in increasing demands for the carbohy- 
drates. In its early days a calf takes on weight very 
rapidly. Compared with its weight the amount of 
food consumed is very large. Often a small calf 
will gain in weight as fast as a mature steer ten times 
as big. Of course the flesh is less solid, the increase is 
of a more watery nature, and the food consumption in 
proportion to the size of the animal is enormous. 

Nature Widens the Ration. — During the baby- 
hood of the calf, or of any other animal, not much 
exercise is taken ; hence, less of the heat and energy 
materials are called for; but as this condition 
changes, there arises a need for more of the carbo- 
hydrates and fats to provide for mechanical work 
both within and without the body. As these are 
supplied the ration takes on more of each and de- 
creases proportionately the protein. 

Nature supplies the needed carbohydrates by 
creating an appetite for grass and roughage mate- 
rials. Just after birth a calf, partaking of colostrum, 
is fed abundantly with protein ; in a few days this 
gives way to ordinary milk, with less of protein and 
more of sugar and fat ; and then a week or two later 
the call of nature is further met by means of the 
nibbles of grass or grain Avherein is stored still larger 
quantities of the carbohydrates and fat to meet the 
cravings occasioned by exercise, energy and me- 
chanical work. In this manner every offspring 
gradually adjusts its food to its needs and very 
largely balances its own ration. 



130 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



From Whole to Skim Milk. — It is not uncommon 
to give whole milk to a young calf for a short period 
after being removed from its mother. The period, 
during which whole milk is supplied varies more 
or less, depending on the value of the calf or the 
use to which milk on the particular farm is put. 
Sooner or later, however, skim milk is substituted 
for the whole milk. If the substitution is gradually 
made, and if some additional food is provided, no 
objection to the change will arise. But too fre- 
quently skim milk is abruptly substituted, and it 
only is fed. This is bad practice. 

Skim milk contains little if any fat ; consequently, 
the young animal is deprived of this nutrient and 
will not thrive in a satisfactory manner. Nor will 
increasing the quantity of skim milk help. Death 
will ultimately follow if the skim milk ration is con- 
tinuously fed and not balanced by means of some 
substitution for the fat removed from the milk. Be- 
low are shown the digestible nutrients in whole and 
skim milk: 



WHOLE AND SKIM MILK COMPARED 





Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds 


Kind 


Protein 


Carbohydrates 


Fat 


Whole milk . . . 
Skim milk 


12.8 
9.6 


3.6 

3.1 


4.9 
4.7 


3.8 
0.2 



When the fat is removed by skimming and the 
remaining liquid fed exclusively, the calf or the pig 
develops slowly, shows dissatisfaction with the food. 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS 



131 



and is less thrifty generally. This condition is 
come by supplying shelled corn or oil meal in 
tion to the skim milk. Not only will a more 
growth soon be apparent, but gains will result 
economically. 

Little Trouble with Suckling Animals. — 
colts, pigs and lambs during their suckling age 



over- 
addi- 
rapid 
more 

With 
there 












""^^ 



Gathering Up What the Steers Drop 

If pigs are permitted to follow cattle and horses much waste food will be 
u*ihzed. Often no additional food is required than what the pigs themselves 
gather m the feed lots. 



is usually no problem at all. If the mothers are 
properly supplied with food the regular course will 
be taken and each will adjust its ration to its own 
individual needs, provided grass or grain is available. 
This is likely to be the case as the offspring feeds with 
its dam. It will soon learn to eat at its mother's side. 



132 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Calves, on the other hand, present a different 
case. Their original food has a great commercial 
value; and whole milk for the market or for butter 
is too valuable to be used as a feed for average 
calves. Consequently, milk is not set before them 
until after the butter fat has been removed. 

A practical way is to feed the new born calf whole 
milk for a week or ten days, then gradually change 
from whole milk to skim milk. During, or follow- 
ing this change, the young calf will begin to eat 
corn and oil meal, and never will notice the sub- 
stitution either in temper or development. With oil 
meal worth a cent and a half a pound, and butter 
fat worth 25 or 30 cents a pound, it is apparent that 
it is a heavy loss to feed butter fat when oil meal is 
as wholesome and nutritious. 

Calf Feeds. — Many especially prepared calf feeds 
are on the market as substitutes for milk or for but- 
ter fat. Many of these are excellent and perfectly 
satisfactory. Their one objection is their cost. A 
ton of prepared calf food may cost $50 to $100, but 
practically all of the substances were obtainable at 
$20 to $35 a ton. When linseed oil meal, boiled flax 
seed, corn and pea meal, etc., are available, it is 
possible for every farmer to secure his own supply 
and to obtain a satisfactory substitute for the butter 
fat that he removes from his milk. 

Feeding the Dairy Calf. — Opinions vary as to 
whether it is best to remove the calf from its mother 
at once or to wait until some days after birth. It is 
becoming more and more a custom to remove the 
calf early, within two or three days at the most. 



I 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS 



133 



The calf is allowed to nurse at its mother's side at 
first. It is then removed to a box stall or an open 
lot away from its dam, and allowed to get hungry. 
Then, with three or four pints of its mother's milk, 
it is taught to drink. This teaching may run 
through a period of two or three trials. Two or 
three feeds a day should be given, three being bet- 
ter than two. If the calf is not very strong, four 
feeds are desirable. 




Ready for Their Breakfast 

This simple contrivance is much esteemed where many calves are fed and 
raised. Each gets its own ration without fuss, confusion or fight. 



The milk used should be from the mother and not 
from another cow, because it is the colostrum that 
is desired ; and this milk should be fed while warm 
from the cow. This should be kept up until the calf 
has a good start and is drinking well. Some dairy- 
men begin to change from whole to partly whole 
and skim milk in a week or ten days, while others 



134 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

continue the whole milk for a period covering two 
or three weeks. Some time between ten days and 
three weeks skim milk may be substituted for a 
part of the whole milk. To the allotment of whole 
milk add about one-fourth more of skim milk and 
keep increasing the skim milk for a week or ten 
days, until the whole milk has been entirely dis- 
placed by skim milk. When the skim milk has been 
started, a teaspoonful of linseed oil meal may be 
mixed with a half cup of warm water, then added 
to the milk, which is, of course, partially skim milk. 
The calf at this time will be taking two quarts three 
times a day. 

It is worth while to be careful not to overfeed. 
Overfeeding on skim milk always stunts a calf. 
During this early feeding period not more than 
three quarts should be fed at a time and three feeds 
a day should be given. 

The oil meal is to be gradually increased until, 
in the course of a few months, a half pint is fed 
daily. Some dairymen get excellent results by using 
a flaxseed jelly in the skim milk. To make this jelly, 
soak whole flaxseed in hot water. Many calf rais- 
ers think this food far superior for young calves to 
any calf meal used as a substitute for milk. The best 
substitute for the flaxseed is linseed oil meal. 

When the calf is two or three weeks old a little 
whole corn and oats in the box where the calves can 
get at it will be eaten and relished. The calf will 
soon take to hay. The aim should be to keep the 
calf growing steadily and in a thrifty condition. 
Spring calves can soon be turned in a pasture lot. If 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS 



135 



fed the skim milk and the cream substitutes, they 
should show steady growth and plenty of thrift. 

After such calves have reached the age of four 
to six months, the skim milk may be dropped out of 
the ration, but the grain concentrates like oil meal, 
corn and oats, should be continued, even increased 
slightly, and fed in con- 
junction with pasture 
grass or the legume 
hays. During the first 
winter let these hays 
be abundantly fed, so 
as to develop large 
stomachs, and to fur- 
nish plenty of protein 
and the ash materials. 

Feeding the Beef 
Calf. — In some sections 
of the country calves 
are either vealed or 
saved for beef, and yet 
the cows are managed 
so as to get the most 
milk possible either for 
sale or for butter. Best 
results are obtained when veal calves are given all 
of the whole milk they will use. Many allow the 
calf to stay with its mother during a period of three 
or four weeks, taking all of the milk that the mother 
gives. In addition, some grain is allowed, consisting 
of oil meal or flaxseed and corn. When disposed of 
as veal calves, the mother is put in the herd and 




Beef in the Making 

The new idea in beef production 
is to grow beef and not to fatten 
cattle. 



136 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



milked thereafter. This practice is permissible with" 
cows of a poor grade. It is injurious in high milk 
production, and inevitably leads to the destruction 
of the herd, because many of the good dairy calves 
are vealed and forever lost as dairy prospects. If 
calves are allowed to suck their dams for as long a 
period as required for making good veal, the value 
of the cow as a milk producer is somewhat lessened. 




Bred for Beef 

Th s pure-bred Shorthorn calf was left with its mother for a week. After 
that time it was fed whole milk, then whole and skim milk mixed, then 
skim milk and oil meal. 



Objection to the practice of first milking the cows 
and giving the whole milk to the veal calves is raised 
because of the labor expense. Some farmers meet 
this by removing some of the butter fat and provid- 
ing substitutes as previously described for the cream 
removed. Where calves intended for beef stock are 
removed from their mothers cream substitutes can 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS I37 

be given in addition to skim milk, as described for 
dairy calves. They should be fed so as to obtain 
quick development. Larger quantities of concen- 
trated grains are admissible in proportion to the 
roughage materials than where whole milk is fed; 
yet the aim is not to fatten this young stock, but to 
grow beef. This means gradually to widen the 
ration, basing it on good grass, skim milk, oil meal, 
and corn, and later, on silage, if available, and a rea- 
sonable amount of hay, the legume kind preferred. 

Where beef is raised exclusively, particularly on 
the western ranges and in beef herds produced from 
beef breeding stock, calves are allowed to suckle 
their mothers until naturally weaned. If allowed 
the run of the pasture with the mother, little, if any, 
food is given in addition to what is obtained by 
suckling the dam and by grazing. These beef dams 
are not heavy milkers as a rule; consequently, the 
food supply from the milk is much smaller than if 
the same practice were followed in the dairy herd. 
As weaning time approaches either an abundance of 
succulent grass should be available, or else substi- 
tutes should be provided in the way of concentrates 
and hay. During their first winter beef calves raised 
in this manner, either while on or off the cows, 
should be given grain, silage if available, and good 
bright hay. The quantity of each will vary with 
individuals. The aim should be to provide the pro- 
tein liberally. If good hay and silage are available 
the proper balance of food material will follow. 

The Feeding of Lambs. — At birth the main thing 
is to see that the lamb gets its mother's milk. The 




138 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS I39 

ewe's udder should be examined to see that it is in 
a healthy condition. If the ewe is receiving the 
proper kind of food and her udder is doing its work, 
no further attention is necessary. From the time 
the lambs are dropped until taken from the flock 
they are dependent on the mother ewe both for milk 
and for companionship. If the lambs are taken from 
the ewe and compelled to suffer from hunger and 
lonesomeness, it is no wonder that they bewail their 
condition and shrink in flesh. The good flock- 
master avoids this, because it is inhumane and al- 
ways acts as a physical shock that requires some 
time for recovery. 

The mother ewes should be given some grain 
food, in addition to pasture or other roughage, dur- 
ing the period the lambs are with them. If the lambs 
are thrifty, they will soon learn to eat of the same 
kind of food. Such lambs, being thrifty, are always 
good eaters and make but little fuss when removed 
at weaning time. It is good practice to prepare for 
weaning. Prior to weaning, teach the lambs to eat 
some food that will take the place of the mother's 
milk better than the grass of the pasture. Get the 
flock into an inclosure where they will be com- 
fortable after having fed on grass in the morning, 
and give them a light feed of some mixture of con- 
centrates like oats and bran, half and half, or oats 
and bran with some oil meal added. The ewes will 
enjoy a light feed of this morning and night, and the 
lambs will learn to eat with them. When the lambs 
have learned to eat these concentrates in the in- 
closure, the ewes may be separated from the lambs. 



140 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



When the day of separation has arrived, get the flock 
in the inclosure earlier than ordinary, feed, and then 
hold until nearly time to turn out. Now sort the 
ewes, then feed the lambs, and take the ewes to some 
distant field out of hearing of the lambs. After the 
lambs have had a good feed of grain turn them back 




Large Litter of Vigorous Pigs 

Creeps for young pigs in which they may go for slop food are desirable. 
Both mother and pigs benefit. 



1 



to their old pasture ground, and they will go to 
picking up grass at once. The lambs should be 
taken up each day, fed a fairly liberal portion of 
grain, be given access to all the water needed and 
plenty of grass, and they will make good growth 
without further bother. 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS I4I 

The Feeding of Pigs. — The sow while nursing re- 
quires liberal feeding, as the rearing of a large litter 
is a severe drain on her system. Skim milk, butter 
milk, bran, shorts, ground oats, wheat and barley, 
with a run on pasture grass, will meet the situation. 
No care or attention will be needed to get the little 
pigs to drink when two or three weeks old. A good 
method is to provide a shallow, flat-bottom trough 
in a small inclosure in one corner of the lot where 
the sow is fed, allowing the young pigs access to this 
at will, but where the sow cannot reach it. For the 
first day or two a little fresh milk can be used ; after- 
wards give sweet skim milk, properly warmed. If 
skim milk is not available, then middlings or shorts 
mixed in a thin slop are a good substitute. This can 
be fed twice daily. 

The pigs should not be weaned abruptly, because 
of the injury that would result to the sow. There is 
a large flow of milk, which should be dried up grad- 
ually. It is not a good plan, either, to remove some 
of the pigs, allowing the remaining ones to stay 
with the mother a few days or a week or so. This 
is admissible, however, if part of the litter has 
profited at the expense of other members. In case 
this is so, the larger ones can be removed after they 
have become satisfied with their slop ration, and the 
less thrifty ones kept back to dry ofif the sow. 
Weaning should be done gradually; then there will 
be no sudden check either to the pigs or the mother. 
If the sow is fed a spare diet consisting of a little 
dry grain or given the run of an old pasture, the 



142 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



secretion of milk will be arrested and both sow and 
pigs will adjust themselves to the new order. 

When the young pigs have learned freely to take 
slop made of shorts or middlings and skim milk, 
they are ready for weaning. This usually takes 
place at seven to ten weeks of age. If skim milk 
is not available, then the longer the pigs remain on 



II 




Resting in the Pasture Field 



The brood mare may be worked practically up to foaling time. After 
foaling for 10 days or two weeks she is entitled to ease and rest. In sum- 
mer the pasture or paddock is the best place for her and plenty of fresh 
water and grain should be supplied. 

the dam the better. In no case should they be 
weaned until they take food freely apart from their 
mother. After being weaned, give them access to a 
good pasture and a grain slop of middlings, shorts 
or corn meal twice daily. The amount of meal fed 
will depend upon the condition of the pasture. 



FEEDING YOUNG ANIMALS 



143 



Young clover, or a mixture of young timothy and 
clover or alfalfa, will meet the requirements excel- 
lently. The custom of preparing grazing lots of 
cowpeas, rape, peanuts, sweet potatoes or rye is 
growing, and where this method is followed the cost 
of producing pork is materially lessened. At wean- 




An Inexpensive Colt Creep 

Young colts, on pasture with their mothers, may be given grain by means 
of some contrivance as this. 



ing time the ration must contain a liberal amount 
of protein, but as age advances this will decrease 
proportionately, and the pigs, if admitted to good 
pasture, will grow rapidly and thrive as they should. 
Feeding the Foal. — Until the foal is a month old 
it ought not to get wet nor have a damp bed. Dur- 
ing this time it will obtain its food largely from its 



144 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

mother as milk. For a week or ten days after birth 
the mother should be given rest in the pasture field, 
after which she can be started in again on light 
work. Ordinarily, it is best to train the foal to re- 
main in its stall while the mother is at work. When 
the mare is started in at work again, the foal should 
be allowed for a while to have its mother's milk at 
least once in the forenoon and once in the afternoon, 
and to remain at its mother's side during the noon 
hour, and from quitting time in the evening until the 
mare is put to work in the morning. 

If allowed to stand at its mother's side, the foal 
will soon eat of grain in the manger, and in this 
way learn to eat both grain and hay, in addition to 
grass in the pasture field. By weaning time the foal 
should know how to eat what it subsequently will be 
given. Corn, oats, bran, and oil meal make an ex- 
cellent mixture and can be given in equal parts, 
though at first only in small amounts. Grass is an 
ideal food when supplemented with oats or with the 
combination just mentioned. The weaning should 
be done gradually; then neither foal nor the dam 
will suffer. After weaning, increase the grain and 
provide good bright hay for roughage. Handled in«i 
this manner, the foal will go through the winter 
nicely and when turned out to pasture in the spring 
will show thrift and make rapid growth. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE FEEDING OF BREEDING ANIMALS 

The excessive feeding of breeding stock is harm- 
ful ; indeed, more so than when animals are under- 
fed. This is especially true when the feeding ration 
contains an overabundance of carbonaceous foods. 
When such are supplied to mature breeding stock, 




Too Fat for Good Breeders 

Breeding stock should be thrifty, but not excessively fat. Otherwise their 
breeding qualities will sooner or later be impaired. 

the animals often become very fat, and are not. as 
prolific as they otherwise might be. The adult ani- 
mal, if properly nourished, neither gains nor loses 
in weight. It requires food for the repair of tissues, 
to maintain its regular supply of hair, wool and 

145 



146 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

horn, and to produce heat and mechanical work by 
combustion of the food in the body. 

In addition, breeding animals must have food 
enough to provide for the grov^^th of the fetal young. 
This means blood and tissue for every part of the 
offspring. Carbohydrates and fat cannot assist in 
providing this material. It must come solely from 
the protein of the food. Consequently, every preg- 
nant animal should be given considerable protein 
in her ration, both for her own use and for the devel- 
oping progeny. 

Feeding the Dairy Cow When Carrying Calf. — 
After calving, and then for a period of several 
months, the good dairy cow drops off in flesh, even 
though liberally supplied with food. She should 
never be fat as that condition is known in respect 
to the beef cow. After she has caught her gait in 
milk production, her weight is maintained for a con- 
siderable period, and if the food supply is still lib- 
eral, she will gain in weight and flesh. Ordinarily, 
the rations of the dairy stable are satisfactory both 
for milk production and for the support of the fetal 
calf. 

Heavy concentrated grains may be injurious 
hence caution will not be out of place if taken at th 
time the cow approaches parturition. During the 
latter part of her lactation period concentrated feeds 
like cottonseed meal or gluten meal should be les 
sened or discontinued altogether and food like wheat' 
bran or some of the laxative commercial feeds given 
instead. Some grain will be necessary at this period 
in order to maintain the milk flow, even though it 



I 



THE FEEDING OF BREEDING ANIMALS I47 

has become lessened naturally in quantity. This 
grain should be of a nature that will tend to make 
milk and that will at the same time act as a good 
carrier of mineral substances. Thus not only the 
cow but also the developing offspring will benefit. 

Just before parturition laxative foods are to be 
preferred. Of course, nothing is better than good 
pasture grass, and if cows have the run of a pasture 
field from spring to winter little trouble will be 
met with at calving time. If, however, the calves 
are dropped during the winter when pastures are 
no longer available, the next best thing is silage for 
succulence, and if silage is not available, then mo- 
lasses, molasses feeds, or the beet pulps and roots. Dur- 
ing the winter cows either in milk or carrying offspring 
should be liberally supplied with the legume hays 
like clover, alfalfa or cowpea, so as not only to pro- 
vide an abundance of protein but of ash material as 
well. 

While it is not desired that the dairy cow be fat, 
still she should carry a reasonable amount of flesh. 
The production of fat cells in the body is, to a cer- 
tain extent at least, at the expense of milk cells ; 
therefore the dairy cow with beef tendencies is usu- 
ally not a profitable milk producer. Since milk is 
not an object of great importance with the beef 
animals, bloom, quality and flesh are desired in this 
class of stock. To be profitable the dairy cow should 
be in milk ten or eleven months each year. The 
cow that goes dry after five or six months of milk- 
ing would be more profitable for the farmer in the 
fattening lot than in the dairy herd. Two or three 



148 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

months prior to calving, the dairy cow or the beef 
cow should receive daily a pound or two of wheat 
bran, four or five pounds of alfalfa, clover, or cow- 
pea hay, for needed protein and the ash constituents. 
This is particularly needed during the winter and 
during the summer or the fall when the pasture 
grass is short or withered. 

At Calving Time the cow should be put off by 
herself. Bran, clover, alfalfa, or cowpea hay, to- 
gether with silage or some other succulent food, 
should compose the daily ration. After calving, cut 
out the ration entirely for a day or so ; feed only a 
little bran and succulent food. The quantity of food 
may be increased from the second day gradually un- 
til the cow is placed on her full ration. It is not well 
to be in too big a hurry to get the cow on a full ra- 
tion or to bring her up to the full capacity as a milk 
producer. It is often a wise practice to use a full 
month to get the cow on full feed and to her pro- 
duction capacity. 

The beef cow usually is given the range of the 
field in which she may drop her calf. She is placed 
under conditions more natural to her, and hence, 
usually, will take care of herself and her offspring. 
If pasture is abundant, supplementary feeds will not 
be required; but if she is an important breeding 
cow herself, in high breeding form and flesh, and if, 
because of her breeding, it is desired to secure the 
quickest and fullest development of the calf, addi- 
tional food in form of concentrates may be given to 
advantage. If the herbage is scant or otherwise in- 
sufficient or improper, a grain ration should be pro- 



THE FEEDING OF BREEDING ANIMALS 



149 



vided. In either case the ordinary commercial feeds 
like cottonseed meal, the glutens, wheat bran, oil 
meal or corn may be furnished singly or in com- 
binations, depending on the cost or the ease of ob- 
taining them. 

The Brood Sow. — Corn has been connected for so 
long a time with hog feeding that it still holds a high 
place as a food for the brood sow. To a certain ex- 
tent this practice is wrong, but though many lead- 




Feeding Box for Alfalfa Hay 

Hogs relish alfalfa during all seasons of the year. In winter dry hay 
may be placed in a box as here shown and much less wil! be wasted than 
when thrown on the ground or placed in racks. 



ing hog men caution against the heavy use of corn, 
they nevertheless do resort to it more or less. This 
is partly because in the important hog sections corn 
is always available and usually abundant as a hog 
food, and because it is home raised and seldom re- 
fused or rejected. 

Food of a more protein nature should be fed the 
sow previous to the time of dropping her pigs and 



150 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



while she is suckling them. This does not mean 
that corn should be cut out of the ration altogether. 
In sections where corn is not freely produced, and 
where its commercial value is high, substitutes are 
more generally provided and the objections to its 
use are not usually met. 




A Portable Hog House 

Here is shown a hog house that can be moved to various parts of the 
field, insuring cleanly quarters and new feeding grounds. Both are items 
of great importance in hog raising. 

The food of the brood sow should be similar to 
that given the dairy cow, particularly the grain part 
of the ration. Even silage is good, as are also alfalfa 
and clover hay. To those unaccustomed to the use of 
alfalfa or clover hay it may seem impossible that the 
brood sow would use either to any great extent. 
Nevertheless, the consumption of such is practically 
as great as when either is fed to horses or cows. 



II 



THE FEEDING OF BREEDING ANIMALS 



151 



Bran slop makes a very desirable food, as do also 
middlings and shorts, and should be fed both before 
and after the pigs have been dropped. 

At Pigging Time, the sow should not be disturbed 
and her ration should be diminished for a day or two. 
A thin slop or clear water should be set in her pen 
and nothing done to excite or disturb the sow in any 
way. Brood sows should be accustomed to handling 




Making Pork from Rape 

This forage crop is gradually extending its boundaries, and, while useful 

for all stock, is especially prized as a green pasture for hogs. 

and at pigging time should admit the owner or an 
attendant to give quiet assistance when necessary. 
If the weather is cold some provision for heating 
may be advisable, or the newly born pigs may be 
removed to a basket after having been carefully 
wiped and dried, and after having fed on the milk 
that by this time has been secreted. It is important 
that the pigs get the first milk soon after birth. 
Otherwise their strength soon declines. 



152 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

In a day or two the food supply should be in- 
creased. It should consist of milk-stimulating and 
milk-producing foods like middlings, shorts, gluten, 
linseed oil meal, pea meal, skim milk, etc. A little corn 
or corn meal may be given, but this should be limited. 

Exercise for Brood Sows. — See that the brood 
sows take exercise and that they get succulent food. 
It is doubtful if any other factor in hog raising has 
brought about quite as much injury as the practice 
of placing brood sows in little pens, preventing them 
from getting juicy roots or green foods and cutting 
ofl their opportunity for exercise entirely. The run 
of the pasture field, or in the winter of rye or wheat 
lots, or in fall of harvesting peanuts, artichokes, 
cowpeas, or of cleaning up old meadows, all add 
vigor to the sows, largely wipe out the cost of keep, 
and increase the vitality of the coming offspring. 
The best mother is one that supplies a heavy flow of 
milk. To do this she must be healthy, strong, and 
be liberally supplied with food. From well fed 
brood sows, therefore, usually come the healthiest 
and quickest maturing offspring. 

The Brood Mare. — There is no objection to work- 
ing the brood mare or of exercising her right up to 
foaling time. Liberal feeding on oats, or bran, bal- 
anced with corn and hay, will furnish a satisfactory 
ration for the mare before and after foaling. The 
same precaution should be taken to diminish the 
food supply when the colt is born as when the calf 
is born. The mother at foaling time is in a fever- 
ish condition, and weak also. She should be fed 
only what is needed for appeasing the appetite. 



I 



THE FEEDING OF BREEDING ANIMALS 



153 



Succulent grass is cooling and is never objection- 
able. The grain allotment for a day or two, how- 
ever, should be small and should consist of ground 
oats or wheat bran, or both, without corn. 

After a day or two the milk secretion will become 
active and the mare will recover her appetite. For 
a week or ten days she should have complete rest, 
preferably in a paddock, or the run of a pasture will 




Rounding Them Up in the Pasture 



do. When put to work at the end of this rest period, 
her tasks should be of a light nature at first, not of 
long duration, and not in excessive heat or sunshine. 
Gradually increase the rations until a liberal sup- 
ply is given so as to meet the demand occasioned by 
work and the production of milk: 

The Ewe. — In localities where the ground re- 
mains uncovered during much of winter flock mas- 
ters are fortunate because of the pasture and the 
tough sod on which the sheep can at times be 
grazed. Lambs will not come large and strong un- 
less the ewes have been properly fed, properly 



154 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

housed, and properly exercised. Where pasture is 
not available during the winter, no feeds are quite 
as good as alfalfa and clover hay. Either may be 
fed once or twice a day. If but one feed of either is 
given, then good corn stover, or millet, or even oat 
straw, may be used as a roughage for the other feed. 
Peas and oats, vetches, and cowpea hay, are all ex- 
cellent roughage feeds for breeding ewes. 

When thus supplied with good fodder, the ewes 
do not need much grain until toward the approach 
of the lambing season. They will be in better con- 
dition, however, at lambing time if they have been 
fed a small quantity of grain previously. Whole oats 
are very suitable for them, but what is better is a 
little bran or oil cake along with the oats. Neither 
the bran nor the oil cake is necessary, but either or 
both will add to the efficiency of the ration. Field 
roots are also excellent, but before lambing it is not 
necessary to feed more than two or three pounds a 
day. If roots cannot be had, and corn silage is avail- 
able, it will be in order to feed silage at least once a 
day. Either clover or alfalfa goes admirably with 
silage. 

Sheep will take ample exercise if given the free- 
dom of one or more fields when the snow is not deep 
or altogether absent. It is only when snow is deep 
and the ewes are unable to move about that they are 
in danger of becoming too sluggish. The more 
highly they are fed, the more sluggish they become. 
To avoid this, it may be necessary to put some of the 
feed in racks some distance away from the shed, but 
preferably in a secluded and protected spot. The 



THE FEEDING OF BREEDING ANIMALS I55 

ewes will find their way to these racks if the feed is 
enticing, and thus get needed exercise. 

If the lambs are to come early, the ewes should be 
in the pink of condition, or they will not be able to 
keep the lambs growing well until grass comes. The 
grain supply should be small at first, then increased 
gradually. Very many lambs are weakened before 
birth by the injudicious feeding of the mother. 

At Lambing Time. — After the lambs begin to 
come let the grain supply be reasonably generous, 
so as to provide an ample milk supply. This will 
follow if the roughage materials suggested above 
or others similar to them are given. Milk-stimulat- 
ing concentrates, which mean an ample amount of 
protein, are positively indispensable if a generous 
milk supply is to be obtained. A method followed 
under this general plan will be certain to bring 
sturdy, vigorous lambs. These will grow rapidly, 
the mothers will not drop off in flesh materially, and 
the milk will be abundant and nutritious for the 
sturdy and greedy offspring. 



CHAPTER XVI 

FEEDING FARM HORSES 

Food Requirements for Horses. — Work horses re- 
quire protein to repair the broken-down tissues ; fats 
and carbohydrates to produce heat and energy. The 
harder an animal works, the more food required. 
The Wolff-Lehmann standards for feeding farm 
horses are shown in the table below. They indicate 
the amount of food required per i,ooo pounds live 
weight and are for horses when doing light, moder- 
ate and heavy work. 



WOLFF-LEHMANN STANDARDS FOR HORSES 





Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients 




Nature of work 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Nutritive 
ratio 


Lightly worked . . 
Moderately worked 
Heavily worked . . 


20 
21 
23 


1.5 
1.7 
2.5 


19.5 
11.0 
13.3 


0.4 
0,6 

0.8 


1:7.0 
1:6.2 
1:6.0 



A Fundamental Principle in Horse Feeding is to 

use a relatively smaller quantity of roughage and a 
correspondingly larger amount of concentrates than 
for bovines. The kind of work to which horses are 
put calls for the least possible load on the digestive 
organs, which even in the heavy draft breeds are 
small, particularly the stomach. Hence, the food 

156 



FEEDING FARM HORSES 



157 



of the horse should be nutritious in quality, be sup- 
plied frequently, and in comparatively small quan- 
tities. 

Nature of Food. — The food, of whatever variety — 
and it may include a wide range of feeding materials 
— must be clean, wholesome, and sound; but beyond 
this no specific rules can be laid down, except that, 
generally speaking, reasonable attention should be 
given to the digestible nutrients, in that they should 




Well Bred and Well Fed 



bear the proper proportion one to another. The 
amount and character of the food must vary with 
the size of the horse and the purpose for which it is 
used, the climate and the season, and the section 
in which it is used. 

Character of Food. — The horse feeds on a wider 
range of food substances than is popularly supposed. 
In Arabia, where stamina and sinew are famous, 
the principal food is barley and scant herbage; in 



158 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Ireland it is dried fish mainly ; in England hay, oats, 
and beans comprise the food supply largely ; on the 
continent of Europe, rye, barley and inferior wheat 
make up the grain portion of the rations; while in 
this country many feeding stuffs, covering a wide 
range of roughage and grain, find their way into the 
feed mangers and satisfactorily keep the horse stock 
in health and vigor. 

It is not so much the kind of food, but the purity 
and character, that count. Moldy hay and grain 
cause many of the ills that the horse is heir to and 
imperfect methods of preparation and curing have 
cast an odor of unpopularity on many meritorious 
feeds that, if properly handled, would be eagerly 
sought because of their ease of production or rela- 
tively less cost when compared with the standard 
horse feeds of each particular section. 

Requirements for Work. — Naturally the work de- 
manded of a horse will influence the choice and 
amount of food its caretaker gives it. The race 
horse or the roadster, fed on coarse roughage and 
little grain, will be greatly handicapped if in com- 
petition with another that has been supplied with 
nutritious and appetizing concentrates and little 
rough fodder in the ration. In winter the draft horse 
can subsist very nicely on hay or fodder and little 
or no grain, providing the work is light and the 
hours of labor few. But this same horse, when put 
to hard labor in spring and summer, at plow, culti- 
vator or harvester, will demand less hay and more 
grain if the highest efficiency is to be had. 



FEEDING FARM HORSES 



159 



Farm work is usually not of a strenuous nature, 
even in the busy season. On some days and during 
some periods the work is light and not infrequently 
there are many days of rest. At such times less 
food should be given, but the feeding should be done 




Equal to Any Task 
Heavy farm horses require nutritious food when at severe work. The 
grain portion of the ration should increase or decrease in accordance with 
the severity of the work. 

in such a fashion as to keep the horses in good work 
form and in thrifty condition. 

It is believed by many feeding experts that the 
protein requirement as called for in the feeding 
standards is unnecessarily high. Many good rations 
have been studied under practical test, the efficiency 
of which is well known, and the conclusion is un- 



l6o FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

questioned that with our feeds and under our work 
conditions less protein is required than what the 
Wolff standards set forth. 

Quite recently Kellner, the celebrated German 
authority, as a result of his experiments, stated that 
the large quantities of protein called for in the old 
standards are unnecessary for working animals, there 
being required only enough for the general main- 
tenance of the animal machine and to insure the com- 
plete digestion of the food. To bring this about the 
nutritive ratio of the ration can range from one 
pound of protein to eight or even ten of carbohy- 
drates and fat. 

This view is substantiated by many tests in this 
country. Hence the conclusion that two pounds of 
protein will answer the requirements for that nutri- 
ent for a I, GOO pound horse doing heavy work can 
be accepted as both conservative and wise because 
of the less expense at which energy can be obtained. 
Of course young animals not fully matured will 
fare much better when rations are prepared contain- 
ing more protein. In cases like these, and where 
horses are put to very severe work, the older stand- 
ard for protein is to be recommended. 

Giving Water. — In a state of nature horses feed 
upon juicy herbage and drink at pleasure only pure 
water when that is available. No animal is more 
delicate and fastidious about its drink than the 
horse, and often these animals will suffer agonies 
of thirst rather than quench it with impure, stale or 
tepid water. Water should be given frequently and 
in small quantities. 



FEEDING FARM HORSES l6l 

Some horses require more water than others, the 
quantity varying with the nature and amount of the 
ration, the propensity to sweat, and the season of the 
year. In a test at the New Hampshire station the 
amount of water drunk by five horses was recorded, 
showing a variation of from 25,895 pounds to 32,997 
pounds in the course of a year. Stale or foul water 
from a neglected cistern is unfit for a horse and will 
be refused, except in case of extreme thirst or when 
no other kind is provided. 

The custom of not giving horses a drink during 
the forenoon or the afternoon when working in the 
field is frequently condemned but generally fol- 
lowed. In our larger cities horses are often never 
given water between morning and evening. This is 
cruel, of course. The good horseman will be more 
thoughtful of these dumb beasts intrusted to his 
charge. Not only should the horse be permitted to 
drink his fill at noon, but during hot weather in the 
dusty fields a cool drink should be provided also. 

Order of Hay, Grain and Water. — In a broad way, 
drinking water should be given at least three times 
a day to horses at rest, and more frequently when 
at work. Small quantities of water may be given 
horses at work, even though they are hot and tired. 
The custom is rather general to give water first, 
and then after the water some hay, with the grain 
following later. When horses are put to heavy work 
their noon feed should consist largely of grain. After 
being watered the grain is fed and some hay given, 
that the horse may eat of it between his finishing the 
grain and the time he is taken out to work. 



1 62 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Many horses show impatience when taken to the 
stable at noon and are given hay before the grain. 
For the evening meal the grain should come first, 
and then, after a brief interval, the hay portion of 
the ration. A drink of water after feeding is both 
humane and desirable. 

Regularity in Feeding and Watering. — Whatever 
system of feeding and watering is followed, it should 




Showing Them Off 



be strictly adhered to during the season. Habit is 
part of the ration. To be given water one day be- 
fore meals and the following day after meals, is as 
unsatisfying to the horse as it would be to man. If 
accustomed to grain before the hay at noon, there 
will be dissatisfaction if this procedure is reversed 
the following day. Drink and food should be given 
at about the same time each day. 



FEEDING FARM HORSES 1 63 

Not only does the animal know when to expect 
its grain and hay, but the animal system adjusts it- 
self accordingly, and discomfort results if this order 
is not adhered to. This does not mean that a set 
scheme should be followed throughout the year, but 
rather followed during certain periods of the year 
when special work is performed. During the winter 
season when farm horses are not called to do stren- 
uous or regular work, a different plan may be fol- 
lowed than that employed in the summer season, 
when every minute counts. But, winter or summer, 
a reasonable regularity should be required. 

Roughage Feeds for Horses. — Timothy hay, oats 
and corn have become standard articles in horse 
rations, but many other grasses and legumes are 
equally available and equally satisfactory. In the 
middle and northern states the red and alsike varie- 
ties of clover, alfalfa and timothy are all good and 
may be fed in varying amounts. On some farms 
red clover hay is often the sole food of the work 
horse during the winter season. It is a balanced 
food in itself, but somewhat too bulky to be used 
exclusively when these same horses are put to heavy 
farm work. 

On other farms corn stover, with a few ears of 
corn, make up the winter ration. Neither of these 
rations is to be considered ideal, but each would be 
improved if the two were mixed together. They 
would give variety, a factor never to be ignored, 
and the ration would be improved both as to bulk 
and proportion of digestible nutrients. 

In the southern states, Bermuda, herd's grass, 



164 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

cowpea hay, corn stover, the cereal hays with or 
without vetch, and other legumes and grasses, ad- 
mit of considerable choice and variety. Although 
crimson clover is frequently fed to horses it is not 
a desirable roughage because of the fuzzy condi- 
tion of the clover head. Frequently this fuzz curls 
up into balls, lodges in the intestinal organs, and 
causes digestive disorders and sometimes death. 




Exercise Necessary Even on Farms 

When not worked farm horses require exercise. If at pasture this is un- 
necessary, but during winter, or if pastures or paddocks are not available, 
they should be driven or led about. 

In the western states many of the cereal hays, 
brome grass, alfalfa, prairie hay, corn stover, timo- 
thy and the clovers are available. These allow a 
wide range of roughage materials for horses. In 
every section millet grows well and is frequently 
fed. If cut and cured just as the first blossoms ap- 
pear, a hay scarcely inferior to timothy is made. 
Overripe millet should not be fed to horses. 



I 



FEEDING FARM HORSES 165 

Corn stover is a better feed than is generally sup- 
posed, but it must be bright, clean and well cured. 
If allowed to stand in the field for months, the tops 
and leaves being exposed to the weather, it becomes 
unfit for fodder. On the other hand, if stored in the 
barn when damp, it is quite certain to mold, and if 
fed in this condition will bring on trouble — diges- 
tive and nervous disorders. Corn stover is not a 
well-balanced food. It carries little protein and 
much of the carbohydrates. With it should go some 
oats, or oats and corn, or corn and bran, or corn 
and bran and one of the oil meals. 

The truth of the matter is, it does not matter very 
much what kind of roughage is fed to horses, pro- 
viding the roughage is well cured, free from dust, 
and wholesome. An important thing is to provide 
concentrates that will carry the nutrient or nutri- 
ents lacking in the roughage but which are abun- 
dantly supplied in the concentrates. Thus, if legume 
hays are fed the concentrates need not be high in 
protein, and if the roughage is of a carbonaceous 
nature, like timothy or corn stover, some concen- 
trate like bran or oil meal should be introduced into 
the ration. 

Grain Feeds for Horses. — It used to be thought 
that oats were indispensable for horses. There seems 
to be some constituent of this grain that gives met- 
tle and energy. For horses of the roadster type and 
those where quick action is demanded, oats should 
be, and no doubt will continue to be, a principal part 
of the ration, but for farm work the value of oats 
perhaps has been overestimated. Many tests have 



l66 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

been conducted in which various feeding stuffs have 
been compared, and the oats theory has been over- 
thrown. It is not so much the kind of concentrate, 
but rather that the grain portion shall contain the 
digestible nutrients in the best balance and that 
they be of an easily digestible nature. 

Indian corn shares with oats popularity as a horse 
food. Corn is a very concentrated food, is heating, 
but deficient in muscle-forming elements. If fed 
in combination with timothy or corn stover, too lit- 
tle protein will be provided. Concentrates of a 
nitrogenous nature, therefore, should be admitted to 
the ration. Oats then may be used, or bran, or the 
oil meals, indeed practically any commercial con- 
centrated feed. Bran and oil meal are laxative, and 
are particularly good when succulence otherwise is 
not to be had. These may be given in small quan- 
tities daily, or fed in larger quantities two or three 
times a week. Both are extremely valuable articles 
for horses and may be fed either dry or in mashes. 
When fed as mash once a week, night is the best 
time, preferably before a day of rest. 

Barley is a principal grain food for horses in many 
parts of the world. In some of the great breeding 
stables barley and oats are ground together in pro- 
portions varying with the season and fed to stallions 
and mares. Cottonseed is similar in its chemical 
composition to linseed meal, but is more highly con- 
centrated and contains more protein. It should be 
fed with caution, one or two pounds a day, and 
never to exceed three or four pounds. This concen- 
trate is coming more and more into favor, but some 



FEEDING FARM HORSES 1 6/ 

horses seem never to learn to like it. It is more 
often used in rations for mules than for horses. 

The carrot is the root crop par excellence for the 
horse. It serves to cool the system and assists in the 
digestion of other food. Only a few roots should 
be fed at a time and two or three times weekly. 
Salt is wholesome and beneficial for horses, and at- 
tention should be given to this matter. An occa- 
sional feeding of salt is not desirable. Salt should 
be in rock form and placed where the horses can 
get it at all times when they want it. 

Selecting the Ration. — In making up a feeding ra- 
tion for a horse the first point is to find out how 
much the horse will eat, the next is to regulate the 
ration according to the demand to be made upon the 
animal, whether the work is heavy or light, regular 
or irregular, then consider the feeding stufifs that 
are available, and finally the season and the weather. 
The harder the work and the colder the weather, 
the greater the proportion of carbohydrates required 
in the food. Be particular, however, to get enough 
protein, even though it necessitates the purchase of 
some concentrate, that the horse may get enough to 
meet the needs of the body machine and to secure 
the fullest digestion of the other substances. 

Feeding the Stallion. — A growing three-year-old 
stallion should do well on the following grain feed: 
In the morning five quarts of oats and four fair- 
sized carrots ; noon, eight to lo quarts of mixed feed 
consisting of two-thirds bran and one-third oats, 
and a small quantity of hay, if chopped, then mixed 
with the grain, and dampened with water; at night, 



l68 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

the same mixture as at noon. After the horse has 
finished this grain ration let him have some timothy 
and clover hay in addition; no more than what he 
will eat up clean should be given. 

What has been said in reference to roughage and 
grain materials will apply as well to the feeding of 
the stallion as to work horses. The stallion should 




Stallion for Farm Use 

not be overfed but kept in good flesh and in trim 
condition. Exercise is necessary. During the serv- 
ice period he should have a large box stall wherein 
he will have freedom to move around, and should be 
exercised out in the open air a half hour each day. 
Light work in harness or in the field is not objec- 
tionable. This will keep the stallion quiet, make 
him docile and contribute to vigor and health. 



FEEDING FARM HORSES 



169 



Fattening Horses for Market. — The number of 
horses sold annually is large in the aggregate. The 
animals are collected from all over the country — 
one from this farm, one from that, from this place 
and that. At last all are brought together, whence 
they are sent to the larger markets in great num- 
bers. Every farmer who has sold a horse knows 




Horses Sell Best When Fat 

When horses are to be sold they should be fat and sleek. The cost of labor 
and feed will be many times returned. 



that each brings a better price if fat than if poor. 
A fattening ration, therefore, will be profitable for 
a considerable period before the time set for the 
sale. Horses will gain from three to five pounds 
daily for two or three months if properly fed. 

A common fattening ration consists of barley, 
sugar beets, corn meal and bran. The sugar beets 
are mixed with barley, 25 pounds of beets to a 
bushel of barley. This mixture is boiled until soft. 



I/O 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



To every three pounds of this mixture two pounds 
of corn meal and three pounds of bran are added and 
fed warm, mixed with an equal bulk of clean-cut 
hay. In addition to this, a pint of linseed oil meal 
is fed. As much salt and water as the fattening ani- 
mal relishes are given. If roots are not available, 
then a few pounds of silage will do. In place of 
barley, oats may be substituted, but corn should 
compose a large part of the ration. Give freely of 
the grain mixture. While not stinting in roughage 
materials, these should be held down to the mini- 
mum. A horse will fatten most rapidly on the grain. 

Feeding Mules. — There is a prevailing notion that 
mules eat less than horses. Riley, after a long ex- 
perience with thousands of army mules, maintains 
that "3. mule requires just as much as a horse of 
similar dimensions." In fact, at hard work, Riley 
says *'that the mule will eat more than the horse 
will or can." In general, an animal that eats little 
is a poor animal, regardless of its class or kind. The 
mule will manage to get along on poor feed given 
at irregular intervals, but this neglect is manifest in 
its condition and efficiency. What has been said 
about feeding work horses applies to mules. 

Good Rations Commonly Used. — The following 
rations are in common use at various times and in 
various sections of the country : 

1. Timothy hay, 12 pounds; corn meal, 11 pounds; 

malt sprouts, 5 pounds. 

2. Red clover hay, 8 pounds; oat straw, 6 pounds; 

corn meal, 12 pounds; wheat middlings, 6 
pounds. 



FEEDING FARM HORSES , I7I 

3. Alsike clover, 8 pounds ; corn stover, 6 pounds ; 

corn meal, lo pounds ; rye bran, 6 pounds ; 
linseed oil meal, 2 pounds. 

4. Timothy hay, 12 pounds; corn, 8 pounds; oats, 

8 pounds. 

5. Hay, 10 pounds ; corn, 8 pounds ; bran, 2 pounds ; 

linseed oil meal, 2 pounds. 

6. Corn stover or timothy hay, 12 pounds; oats or 

bran, 7 pounds ; corn, 7 pounds. 

7. Timothy hay, 8 pounds ; corn meal, 6 pounds ; 

wheat bran, 6 pounds; oil meal, 1.5 pounds. 

8. Timothy hay, 10 pounds ; gluten meal, 6 pounds ; 

corn, 6 pounds ; bran, 2 pounds. 

9. Oat hay, 12 pounds; corn, 8 pounds; bran, 5 

pounds. 

10. Alfalfa hay, 16 pounds; bran and shorts, 13 

pounds. 

11. Hay, 6 pounds ; brewers' grains, 8 pounds ; oats, 

8 pounds ; corn, 4 pounds ; wheat bran, 2 
pounds. 

12. Hay, 15 pounds; corn, 10 pounds; oats, 13 

pounds, wheat bran, 6 pounds. 

These last two are for very heavy horses doing 
very severe work. 

In the far West a common ration is alfalfa hay 
10 pounds and barley 12 pounds. This ration has 
been modified elsewhere by using alfalfa hay 10 
pounds and corn 10 pounds, and increased or de- 
creased as the work is light, moderate or severe. 
The army horses in the cavalry are given 14 pounds 
of hay and 12 pounds of oats. 



CHAPTER XVII 

FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 

Food Requirements of Dairy Cattle. — The Wolff- 
Lehmann standards for feeding the various classes 
of dairy animals are shown in the table below. They 
indicate the amount of food required for i,ooo 
pounds live weight, and are for growing cattle and 
for cows yielding varying qualities of milk. 



« 



WOLFF-LEHMANN STANDARDS FOR FEEDING DAIRY 
CATTLE 







Dry 
matter 


Digestible nutrients 




Kind of cattle 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


Nutritive 
ratio 


Growing cattle 
Age in 
months Weight 












2 to 3 

3 to 6 
6 to 12 

12 to 18 
18 to 24 


150 
300 
500 
700 
900 


23 
24 

27 
26 
26 


4.0 
3.0 
2.0 
1.8 
1.5 


13.0 
12.8 
12.5 
12.5 
12.0 


2.0 
1.0 
0.5 
0.4 
0.3 


1:4.5 
1:5.1 
1:6.8 
1:7.5 

1:8.5 


Milking cows; 
when yielding 
daily: 












11.0 pounds milk 
16.6 pounds milk 
27.5 pounds milk 


25 
27 
32 


1.6 
2.0 
3.3 


10.0 
11.0 
13.0 


0.3 
0.4 
0.8 


1:6.7 
1:6.0 
1:4.5 



The Milk-Yielding Function. — In milk production 
some breeds have become markedly specialized. 
The function of giving milk is natural with them, 
but it has been artificially developed. During the 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 



173 



lapse of the centuries, cows have been saved for the 
dairy because of their tendency to give much milk 
or milk of a rich quality. The milk-yielding capac- 
ity of the breeds was not achieved in one genera- 
tion, or in two, nor can it be discarded readily once 
it has become habitual to the breed, the strain, or 
the individual. 

To the practiced eye there are several indications 
of milky tendency in dairy cows. These are known 




The Milk-Yielding 1 LNcriuN Exemplified 
This Jersey cow comes from a long line of milk producers. It is as nat- 
ural for her to give milk as it is for her to eat. 



to be the wedge-like shape of the body when ob- 
served from front, side or rear; the width between 
the eyes; the fine, narrow forequarters and broad 
spacious hind quarters; springing ribs, long and 
wide apart; the refined feminine countenances; the 
hair, silk-like and smoothly laid on the skin, which, 
itself, is fine, mellow, and soft to the touch. In 
addition to these characteristics the stomach should 



174 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

be prominent, the udder large and neither flabby nor 
fleshy, with medium large teats, evenly set ; and ex- 
tending forward along the abdomen should be no- 
ticed strong, tortuous milk veins, which, carried 
internally, are admitted by means of large milk 
wells. These external traits are just opposite to 
those that mark the best types of the beef breeds. 

What Influences Milk Formation? — The milk- 
yielding function is hereditary to a certain extent. 
Certain breeds and certain strains of these breeds 
possess the ability to yield much milk and to trans- 
mit this characteristic to their offspring. Other 
breeds yield very little milk, and no manner of care 
or feeding will largely increase the amount or 
change the character of its quality. Therefore, it 
can be said with certainty that the influences back 
of heavy milk formation are the breed and the in- 
dividuality of the cows of the breed. 

Some breeds rank high as milk producers in 
respect to quantity, others in respect to quality; 
but in both classes much variation is noted. Among 
dairy cows there remain large numbers that are use- 
less as milk producers, and their production returns 
in money are less than the cost of keeping them. 
In time the milk scales and Babcock test will point 
these out and they will be discarded from the dairy 
herds. 

How Often to Milk. — The custom of milking 
twice a day has become fixed, and no marked ad- 
vantage is secured when the number of milkings is 
increased. Experience and experiments show that 
three milkings a day increase the amount of milk 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 



175 



secured less than 7 per cent. Considering the ex- 
tra labor involved, the extra milk obtained by three 
milkings will not repay the cost and trouble. 

What Age of Cow Is Best? — The formation of 
milk is closely associated with the birth of the off- 
spring. The yield increases for several months after 
calving, and may abruptly or gradually decrease, as 
the case may be. As a rule the fat increases slightly 
as the lactation period advances. The young heifer 
generally will give increasing amounts of milk with 
each successive calf until the sixth or seventh year, 
and remain near that point a few years longer, then 
the milk flow will gradually diminish. 




A Clear Case of Dairy Type 
Bred for the dairy this cow represents the highest ideals in dairy confirma- 
tion and milk production. 



176 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

What Influences the Quality of Milk? — So. far as 
the question can be decided, the influences that bear 
most on the quality of milk are breed, heredity 
and inherent functional capacity. It used to be 
thought that the kind of food, the care, and the sur- 
roundings influenced the quality of milk. When put 
to actual test this was proved to be incorrect. The 
quantity of milk, on the other hand, may be, and 
commonly is, influenced by the amount and nature 
of the food, the treatment bestowed, and the atten- 
tion given to all details of dairy management. 

The condition of the mammary gland will have 
much to do with a heavy milk yield. If its capacity 
is limited, naturally the results will be apparent. Its 
efficiency is dependent upon the food digested and 
assimilated. If the food provides the various nutri- 
ents abundantly and in favorable balance to meet 
the needs of the body and of milk production, the 
quantity of milk will reach the maximum possibili- 
ties of the mammary gland and the quality will be 
in accordance with the functional nature of this 
organ. From this it follows that the quality of milk 
of a given cow is without special variation, but that 
the quantity will be dependent on food and treat- 
ment. 

In this connection it may be said that certain 
foods influence the milk yield. Unappetizing and 
ill-smelling foods depress milk secretion, although 
they normally provide the nutrients abundantly. 
The same foods set before the cows in more appe- 
tizing and tempting ways often cause an increased 
flow, although no more provender is consumed. 






FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE I77 

The appetite has a direct connection with the udder. 

Cows that are annoyed by flies and other insects, 
or that are chased about by dogs or other tormen- 
tors, will yield milk less in quantity, and, perhaps, 
poorer in quality, than if they are placed under more 
comfortable and agreeable conditions. Dairymen 
are more and more realizing the importance of these 
facts in practice, and are now giving much attention 
to the simple details of cow comfort. A little care 
at this point assists each cow of a herd in giving 
more milk. 

Pastures Are Ideal Basic Rations.— In early 
spring, cows are usually put out on the pastures as 
early as there is food enough to support them. New 
grass has generally a very laxative effect on the 
cows, and if it alone is relied on, it often has a very 
bad effect. This can be avoided by feeding only 
partially on grass, completing the ration through 
the use of both hay and concentrates. In a short 
time cows become accustomed to grass, on which 
they may then be left to subsist entirely. 

Pasture grass is one of our best foods. It is succu- 
lent, fresh and appetizing, and possesses a high 
nutritive value. The splendid results obtained by 
having cows at pasture is not solely because the 
food is unusually well utilized over winter rations, 
but because it is rich in nutriment. It ranks with 
the cereals, and everyone knows how effective such 
feeds are in milk production. 

No doubt more protein is consumed than cows re- 
quire when feeding on pasture, but this cannot be 
avoided unless the daily grazing period is limited 




I 



i 



ti 



178 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 1/9 

and some substitute of a carbohydrate nature like 
straw, timothy, or stover is provided. The objec- 
tion lies in the refusal of the animals to eat when 
such are put before them. Once the taste of grass 
is obtained, cows reject other foods, often including 
grain concentrates. 

When cows in milk are on pasture their treat- 
ment is very simple, and quite in contrast to the 
diligent necessities of the stable during winter. 
Labor is largely dispensed with, except what is re- 
quired for milking. Cows that are heavy in calf are 
nowhere so well treated as when on pasture. They 
gather their own feed, and even on scanty pasture 
manage to add flesh and to get in good shape for the 
fall and winter season of milk giving. 

Feeding Grain on Pasture. — Many things enter 
into dealing with the problem as to whether grain 
shall be fed on grass or not. Cows do give more 
milk if given grain on pasture, but the cost of pro- 
ducing the milk will thereby be increased and the 
practice may not be economical. Certainly the 
cows that give but little milk should not be grained 
when on good pasture. The very heavy milkers may 
be given grain, anywhere from two to eight pounds, 
depending on the yield and the nature and condition 
of the pasture. One pound of grain to every lo 
pounds of milk may be given to the lighter pro- 
ducers, and this may be increased to one of grain to 
six of milk when cows are yielding from 40 to 50 
pounds daily. 

The kind of grain will depend on what is available. 
Corn is satisfactory if but two or three pounds are 



l80 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

given, but in case more is fed, gluten, cottonseed 
meal or bran should be used in a mixture with corn. 
Silage is a valuable summer feed and frequently is 
fed in summer. It is fed in the stable after milking 
and before the cows are turned out to pasture. One 
feed a day will be sufficient. 

When Pastures Are Short and Parched. — During 
the hot days of late summer the pastures often be- 
come parched, dry and scanty. At this time great 



#• 






iJMRwIlmAfllll 




Is 


^^^^^^^ Trl^l'llF^^ 


^HB^^^^^^^^'" 


^a 



Matrons of the Dairy Herd 

care is needed in managing the dairy herd. Unless 
supplementary food to the pastures is fed the cows 
are sure to drop off in their milk flow, and once 
down it is a difficult task to get them back to the 
point at which they were, and then only after feed- 
ing liberally with grain. 

The short-pasture problem may be overcome by 
providing soiling crops like green corn, millet, 
alfalfa, and corn silage. If a patch of corn be 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE l8l 

planted on warm land as early in the spring as the 
weather will permit and planted thickly, by July a 
great abundance of green forage will be available 
for green feed. This may be fed in the field in racks, 
or on the grass, or in the stable mangers. A very 
large amount of succulent food can be provided in 
this way at no great expense. 

The barnyard millets make excellent green for- 
age. They are usually ready by late July or early 
August. If alfalfa is grown, a good soiling crop is 
at hand when needed. Corn silage is coming more 
and more to be depended upon for such critical peri- 
ods during the summer season and early fall. Where 
many cows are kept the silo is almost indispensable. 

Let the Feeding Standards Serve as Guides. — In 
the production of milk in winter the outlay neces- 
sary for food is much greater than in summer. Not 
only is much home-grown roughage consumed by 
cows, but large quantities of grain also. In sections 
where much corn and alfalfa are grown the feeding 
of dairy cows is simple ; but in the more important 
eastern dairy sections, where corn, if grown at all, 
is grown largely for silage, and little if any alfalfa 
or clover is raised, the problem of feeding cows in 
winter economically calls for great skill, close study 
and correct use of the feed. 

The most accurate means of determining the ra- 
tion that any class of cows needs is by calculation 
based upon the feeding standards. There is more to 
the balanced ration than is usually credited. If an 
insufficiency of protein is contained in a given ra- 
tion, the cow, if she is possessed of a milk-yielding 



1 82 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



tendency, will be forced to rob her own body to ob- 
tain it. Hence, she will lose in flesh and her vital- 
ity will be lowered. On the other hand, if provided 
with all the protein she requires and at the same 
time if she is fed more carbohydrates and oils than 
are needed, she will lay on fat, and sooner or later 
will yield less milk. If fat is deposited in the mam- 
mary glands, milk secretion is certain to be dis- 




An Inexpensive Covered Barnyard 

The covered barnyard is valuable for preserving manure, and it affords 
shelter and protection during the winter season. The idea is fast becom- 
ing popular on dairy farms. 

turbed and a maximum production of milk, for that 
lactation period, at least, impossible to be obtained. 
Producing Milk Economically. — In a general way 
the production of milk economically will be depend- 
ent upon high-producing cows and cheap home- 
grown feeds. On most dairy farms the food raised 
is of a roughage nature, but just as much of this 
roughage material as the cows will eat up clean at 
all times should be put before them. If the legume 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 183 

hays are grown, the demand for concentrates con- 
taining protein will be much lessened, and conse- 
quently the expense bills for grain will be much 
smaller than otherwise they would be. But even 
with an abundance of the legumes and silage some 
grain will be called for, and particularly in the case 
of heavy-yielding cows. Cows with 30 to 50 pounds 
of milk to their daily credit will not usually be able 
to manufacture these quantities from farm rough- 
ages, even though legumes and silage are included. 
The bulk is too considerable and the stomach capac- 
ity of the cow is unequal to the demand. 

This difficulty is met by the use of concentrates 
which contain only small amounts of fiber and other 
indigestible substances. Some practical dairymen 
introduce the grain concentrates freely into the ra- 
tions, basing the quantity on the amount of milk 
produced. To cows yielding 20 or more pounds of 
milk a day one pound of grain is added to the daily 
ration for each three pounds of milk or for each 
pound of butter fat produced a week. If much 
legume roughage is fed, these amounts may be les- 
sened to one pound of grain to every four or five 
pounds of milk or butter fat. Cows that give milk 
low in butter fat will need less grain in proportion 
to the milk yield, and those high in butter fat will 
need more. It is a delicate problem, each cow re- 
quiring individual attention. 

Protein Requirements. — Some authorities are of 
the opinion that the Wolff standards for dairy cows 
in milk call for more protein than is necessary. In 
the Kellner standards from a quarter to a half pound 



184 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

less of digestible protein is recommended, and many 
American investigators hold to the same view. The 
suggested change in this respect is of no great con- 
sequence, even though the maximum amount of 
protein is generously supplied. If legumes and pas- 
tures enter into the rations, an oversupply of digesti- 
ble protein is easily possible, but it should be re- 
membered that when so nourished the cows give 
forth their best production. If protein has a stimu- 
lating effect on the mammary glands, as many hold, 
a generous supply is to be preferred to even a slight 
deficiency. 

FEEDING DAIRY COWS IN WINTER 

Nature of the Food. — The kind of food for feed- 
ing cows in milk will, of course, be much governed 
by the production in any given locality. The aim 
will be to feed approximately a balanced ration. On 
this point divergence of opinion is not great. Where 
fertility is in equilibrium the aim of the dairyman 
should be to grow, as far as may be practicable, the 
food needed on his own farm. He can, of course, 
grow his own carbohydrates and fat, and more and 
more the legumes will be introduced into the 
cropping system on dairy farms. In this way it will 
be possible to obtain much of the protein at home. 
The concentrates that will be used will be pur- 
chased largely because of their strength in protein, 
and will be bought as balancing materials and not 
as basic fundamentals of the ration. 

Foods That All May Grow. — A few foods may be 
looked upon as standard in feeding dairy cows. 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 



i8s 



Nearly every dairyman can grow these, regardless 
of his location, and because they are standard foods 
he ought to try to grow them. These include, as 
roughage, plants of the clover family, alfalfa, corn 
silage, soy beans, cowpeas, corn, peas and oats. On 
every dairy farm there should be a permanent pas- 
ture, and this should be intelligently handled, that it 




Turned Out for Exercise 

Dairy cows will be most healthy when given the run of a pasture during 
summer and fresh air and exercise during pleasant weather in winter. 



may improve steadily. If the pasture land is lim- 
ited, then some soiling crops should be introduced. 
These include rye, peas and oats, alfalfa, clover, 
cowpeas, soy beans, green corn, millet and other 
crops of local adaptation. 

A liberal supply of these feeds is indispensable 
for milk or butter. On too many farms there is 
frequently a shortage of hay, silage, or dry prov- 



1 86 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



ender. When these are grown insufficiently, 
either the cows are denied full rations or else pur- 
chased feed must be resorted to. Ordinarily the 
high prices of these absorb the greater part of the 
profits of the dairy business. On farms where the 
normal supply of roughage is not equal to the re- 
quirement of the stock, it would be wiser, safer and 
better to dispose of the least productive cows, be- 




SiLAGE One of Our Best Dairy Feeds 

When feed is high, silage is practically indispensable in dairying. For 
winter feeding it is a fair substitute for summer pasture, for corn ensiled 
IS more appetizing than if fed dry and in the rough. 



Stowing on the remaining ones more care and feed- 
ing them more generously on the roughage material 
at hand. 

Next to the legumes no food is grown that pro- 
vides so large a proportion of desirable nutrients as 
corn preserved in the silo. The nutrients in silage 
are very appetizing for winter feeding. Moreover, 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 187 

the succulence of silage is beneficial ; it aids diges- 
tion, and, of course, favors milk production. It is 
undoubtedly true that wherever dairy cows are kept, 
the silo is indispensable, both for economical feed- 
ing and for the production of milk at a reasonable 
profit. 

Available Grain Feeds. — The list of concentrates 
for dairy cows is practically unlimited. The cost, 
however, must be considered. It is not enough that 
a concentrate be labeled a food for dairy cows ; it 
must possess a relatively large amount of protein 
and a small amount of fiber. The less of fat and 
carbohydrates in proportion to the protein, the bet- 
ter, provided the supply of home-grown roughage 
feeds is sufficient to meet the demand. In the past 
too little attention has been paid to the chemical 
composition of the concentrates. The custom has 
too long prevailed of buying these by name, where- 
as the only thing that counts is merit. The only 
sensible rule to follow is to study the composition 
of each feeding stufif, and ascertain which kind or 
brand will give the largest quantity of digestive 
nutrients and the largest quantity of digestible pro- 
tein. This information will be of incalculable value 
in buying feeds and will be a means of saving 
money. 

Among the most useful and best liked concen- 
trates are cottonseed meal, linseed oil meal, gluten 
meal, gluten feed, bran, brewers' grain and malt 
sprouts. The several by-products of starch and 
cereal food factories are extensively advertised, but 
they usually sell for more than they are worth. 



l88 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Cereal grains are often fed dairy cows, corn more 
so than other cereals. On farms where alfalfa and 
clover form the bulk ration, corn may be fed if its 
market value is on a level with better-class meals 
and other grains. If corn silage be fed in connection 
with timothy or mixed grasses and corn stover, corn 
will not be a desirable food. There will be wanted 
in this instance and in others like it, concentrates 
like oil meal, wheat bran, gluten, distillers' grains or 
other concentrates of which protein is the predomi- 
nating factor. 

Grain and Quality of Butter, — The character of 
the food frequently influences the quality of the but- 
ter. The white, hard, tasteless character of winter 
butter results from the food given. Fresh pasture, 
bright legume hays, corn silage and soiling crops 
give color to the milk and to butter. Gluten or corn 
produces a soft butter. Wheat bran makes a harder 
butter than either. If much of gluten is introduced 
into a ration, the butter will be soft, but its hardness 
may be improved by the use of cottonseed meal, a 
feed that makes a very hard butter. By mixing the 
two, a better grade of butter will be obtained than if 
either is used alone. A pound or two of cottonseed 
meal when the cows are on pasture helps to counter- 
act the objectionable softness of butter during the 
pasture season. 

FEEDING YOUNG DAIRY STOCK 

During the First Winter. — Calves dropped in the 
spring and early summer will be growing nicely by 
the time they are put up in their winter quarters. A 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE I09 

difference of opinion still obtains as to whether it is 
better to raise young calves intended for the dairy 
on skim milk or on whole milk during the first few 
months of their lives. The skim-milk ration is, of 
course, the less expensive and many of the best 
dairymen believe it develops the best calves. They 







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Picked Out for the Dairy 

These young calves have been fed skim milk "in which has been placed a 
small quantity of oil meal. Ground oats is to be added to the ration. 

claim that the calves so fed are stronger and possess 
larger capacity for digesting rough feed subse- 
quently. Whichever claim is nearest to being cor- 
rect, it is a fact that most dairy calves are now raised 
on skim milk or milk substitutes. 

In either method, the calves should be early ac- 
customed to eating grain, grass, and later in the fall. 



190 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

some kind of legume hay. They will then go into 
winter sturdy individuals able to render a good ac- 
count of the feed given them. The spring-born 
calves need no longer be given milk, though they 
may have it if it is plentiful. The fall calves, how- 
ever, should not have their supply cut off if this can 
be avoided. Let both classes have all the hay they 
will eat up clean. It is poor economy to limit their 
roughage supply. You want big stomachs, large 
frames, and vigorous individuals. There is nothing 
so good as a plentiful supply of good legume hay 
to get these results. 

Satisfactory Grain Mixture. — Many young calves 
are wintered without grain, but such a method is 
not to be recommended. Some grain is necessary 
if steady growth is sought. A mixture of coarse 
corn meal three parts, wheat bran one part, and lin- 
seed oil meal one part will give very satisfactory 
returns. The grain is to be given in two feeds, 
morning and evening. Hay may be put in the man- 
gers both morning and night, and at noon also if 
convenient. 

This plan of feeding may be followed throughout 
the winter, the amount of grain being gradually 
increased as the calves grow. In the spring the 
same precaution in accustoming the animals to pas- 
ture should be observed as for the milk cows. When 
safely settled on grass the grain ration should be 
gradually decreased until a small amount is fed, or 
none at all. The governing factors will be the kind 
and character of the pasture. 



I 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE I9I 

During the Second Winter. — The calves will now 
be far along, and some of them will have been bred. 
The roughage food will be of a character similar to 
what it was the first winter. The same liberality in 
feeding is to be followed and the grain supply is to 
be more than before. Ground oats, wheat bran and 
linseed oil meal will now be more largely fed, be- 
cause these are all good as building materials and 
stand high as carriers of mineral substances. 

If corn is expensive or limited in quantity, it can 
be dropped from the grain mixture altogether. 
Silage is excellent, so are roots, and if either is avail- 
able, a limited amount, say lo to 15 pounds, should 
be given daily. Fed in this manner dairy calves will 
enter their work stalls as well-equipped milk pro- 
ducers, possessed of strong constitutions, rugged 
physiques and vitality equal to long service and 
much profit to their owners. 

STABLE MANAGEMENT 

Salt and Water. — Cows should have salt, either 
added to their rations or furnished in lump form 
where it can be taken at will. In the latter way 
they may take too much. If added to the feed, from 
a half ounce to an ounce and a half should be fur- 
nished daily to each cow. Cows do not need to have 
water kept before them continuously, summer or 
winter. They need a liberal supply at all seasons, 
however; and ice water is not good, since they often 
will drink really less than they need. If comforta- 
bly stabled in the winter, natural water, even if cold, 
will be satisfactory. 



192 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



The Practice of Dishorning is to be encouraged, 
as cows seem to give more milk and are more safely 
handled. 

The Tuberculin Test, consistently employed, will 
eradicate tuberculosis from a herd. It has no effect 
on the yield of milk and butter fat. 




Dairy cows require an abundance of water, and they want it fresh and 
clean. In the winter they should not be required to drink ice water. 

The Herd Bull should not be permitted to run in 
the pastures with the cows, as is the custom on 
many farms. Much exercise is advisable and may 
be provided for by run lots, moderate work in special 
instances, and in the use of chain and ring attached 
to cable. The bull may be stabled in stall or box 
stall in the same building with the cows, or kept in 
a small outside building where shelter is available. 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE I93 

In a small run connected with the building freedom 
and exercise may be had. Food, similar in character 
and amount to that given the cows, usually is fed. 
Nutritious roughage and succulent food should be 
supplied generously, and may form the bulk of the 
ration. During the period of greatest service, rich 
food of a protein character should be fed liberally. 
The Order of Supplying the Food will vary as cir- 
cumstances arise. Certain foods, like cabbage, sil- 
age and turnips, will be less likely to taint the milk 
if fed after milking. Grain may be given just before 
or some time previous to milking. In the case of 
hay less trouble will follow from dust and odors if 
fed after milking. The following order is followed 
on many up-to-date dairy farms : Milking, first ; then 
the grain feeding ; then silage or roots ; stable clean- 
ing while the cows are watering; following this 
work come hay feeding and grooming. If the 
weather is pleasant, the cows are turned out for ex- 
ercise and morning air. Towards evening the cows 
are watered, fed grain, milked, fed the silage or 
roots, and then are given their final supply of hay. 

SOME SAMPLE RATIONS 

For Dairy Calves. 

Provide a grain mixture consisting of ground oats 
and corn meal, each three parts, and oil meal 
and bran, each one part. 

In summer : Keep on pasture and give about 2 
pounds of the mixture to six-month calves, 3 
pounds to yearlings and 4 pounds to those 18 
months old if pasture is short. 



194 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

In winter : Continue the grain mixture, giving the 
yearlings 4 pounds and those 18 months old 
6 pounds. Let them have all the alfalfa, 
clover or cowpea hay they will eat up clean. 

Dry Cows in Summer: 

1. Give run of pasture. 

2. If pasture is very short, as calving time ap- 

proaches feed from i to 3 pounds of bran 
daily. 

Dry Cows in Winter: 

1. Clover, alfalfa or mixed hay, 15 pounds; corn 

silage, 20 pounds. 

2. All hay and stover cows will eat. As parturi- 

tion approaches use up to 3 or 4 pounds of 
wheat bran, beginning at i pound daily at 
first. 

For Cows Yielding From 16 to 25 Pounds of Milk 
Daily: 

1. Corn silage, 40 pounds; clover hay, 15 pounds; 

ground corn, 3 pounds; cottonseed meal, i 
pound. 

2. Cowpea hay, 15 pounds; corn stover, 10 

pounds ; corn silage, 30 pounds ; cottonseed 
meal, 2 pounds. 

3. Alfalfa hay, 18 pounds ; corn silage, 35 pounds. 

4. Corn stover, 15 pounds; corn meal, i pound; 

linseed meal, 2 pounds ; wheat bran, 5 pounds ; 
cottonseed meal, 2 pounds. 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE I95 

5. Sorghum fodder, 50 pounds; hay, 7 pounds; 

bran, 4 pounds ; corn meal, 3 pounds ; oil meal, 
2 pounds. 

6. Corn fodder, 8 pounds ; clover and timothy hay, 

7 pounds; sheaf oats, 5 pounds; rutabagas, 3 
pounds ; bran, 2 pounds ; oats, 3 pounds ; corn 
meal, 3 pounds; oil cake, 2 pounds. 

7. Prairie hay, 20 pounds; corn fodder, 10 

pounds ; corn meal, 6 pounds ; bran, 3 pounds ; 
oil meal, 1.5 pounds. 

8. Clover hay, 10 pounds ; corn stalks, 20 pounds ; 

corn and cob meal, 10 pounds; bran, i pound; 
roots, 8 pounds. 

9. Alfalfa, 35 pounds; bran, 7 pounds; barley, 3.5 

pounds. 
10. Hay, 10 pounds; silage, 35 pounds; bran, 3 
pounds; corn and cob meal, 3 pounds; gluten 
meal, 2 pounds ; cottonseed meal, 2 pounds. 

For Cows Yielding from 25 to 40 Pounds of Milk 
Daily: 

1. Corn silage, 40 pounds; clover hay, 15 pounds; 

ground corn, 3 pounds; cottonseed meal, 4 
pounds ; wheat bran or gluten meal, 3 pounds. 

2. Corn silage, 35 pounds ; corn stover, 6 pounds ; 

w^heat bran, 4 pounds ; dried brewers' grain, 4 
pounds; cottonseed meal, 2 pounds. 

3. Soy bean silage, 35 pounds ; alfalfa hay, 8 

pounds; corn meal, 6 pounds. 

4. Crimson clover hay, 10 pounds; cowpea silage, 

35 pounds; dried brewers' grain, 5 pounds; 
cottonseed meal, 2 to 4 pounds. 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 1 97 

5. Corn silage, 40 pounds; corn stover, 7 pounds; 

wheat bran, 5 pounds; dried brewers' grain, 
5 pounds; cottonseed meal, 2 pounds. 

6. Alfalfa hay, 20 pounds ; corn meal, 8 pounds ; 

cottonseed meal, 2 pounds. 

7. Alfalfa hay or clover hay, 15 pounds; corn sil- 

age, 20 pounds; bran, 3 pounds; linseed oil 
meal, 2 pounds ; ground oats, 2.5 pounds ; 
hominy feed, 2.5 pounds; gluten feed, 5 
pounds. 

8. Clover, alfalfa or cowpea hay, 10 pounds ; green 

cut corn, 40 pounds ; hominy feed, 5 pounds ; 
cottonseed meal, i pound; distillers' grain, 8 
pounds. 

9. Corn silage, 35 pounds ; clover hay, 9 pounds ; 

corn, 5 pounds; cottonseed meal, 2 pounds; 
bran, 2 pounds. 
10. Mixed hay, 15 pounds; dried beet pulp, 4 
pounds; gluten feed, 2 pounds; cottonseed 
meal, 2 pounds ; corn meal, 2 pounds. 




CHAPTER XVIII 

FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 

Food Requirements for Beef. — The Wolff-Leh- 
mann standards for feeding the various classes of cat- 
tle are shown in the table below. They indicate 
the amount of food required per i,ooo pounds live 
weight and are for both growing and fattening beef 
animals. 



WOLFF-LEHMANN STANDARDS FOR FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 







Dry 


Digestible nutrients 








Carbo- 




Nutritive 


Kind of cattle 


matter 


Protein 


hydrates 


Fat 


ratio 


Growing cattle 












Age in 












months Weight 












2 to 3 


160 


23 


4.2 


13.0 


2.0 


1:4.2 


3 to 6 


330 


24 


3.5 


12.8 


1.5 


1:4.7 


6 to 12 


550 


25 


2.5 


13.2 


0.7 


1:6.0 


12 to 18 


750 


24 


2.0 


12.5 


0.5 


1:6.8 


18 to 24 


950 


24 


l.S 


12.0 


0.4 


1:7.2 


Fattening cattle 












First period 


30 


2.5 


15.0 


0.5 


1:6.5 


Second period 


30 


3.0 


14.5 


0.7 


1:5.4 


Third period 


26 


o - 


15.0 


0.7 


1:6.2 



Wild Cattle Are Seldom Fat. — Animals in a wild 
state are not easily fattened. It has taken many cen- 
turies of careful selection and breeding to bring the 
cattle of the plains or the lowlands or the mountains 
up to a point at which they will lay on gains rapidly 
and at a reasonable cost. It has been the work of 

198 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE I99 

the breeder to select out of the whole those individ- 
uals that were most disposed to fatten easily and 
naturally, and use them as foundation stock for an 
ever-improving race of meat animals. 

In time breeds have been developed that repre- 
sent in a high degree this tendency or disposition 
to give rapid increase and to fatten readily. With 
all the care, however, there is a large proportion of 
the cattle stock that is still inferior for any purpose 
for which it might be selected. 




The Same Cow, Side and Rear 

Here is a typical beef type. Observe how she differs from the typical dairy 
cows previously shown. 

Success in the feed lot will depend on the class 
and the inheritance of the animals selected. Hence, 
in fattening cattle, the first task is to select the right 
kind of animals — those that have been bred to fat- 
ten, that possess hidden quality and that are of the 
conformation which practical experience has shown 
to be associated with rapid increase and tender, 
juicy meat. 

Younger Stock Now Being Fattened. — In the old 
days cattle were carried along for four or five years 



200 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

and then fattened. The new idea is to grow beef. 
Young animals are now brought to maturity and 
finish at as early an age as possible. If steers can 
be brought by liberal treatment to marketable 
weight at 12 or 18 months old, the amount of food 
consumed will be smaller than if two, three or more 
years are spent in attaining the same weight. Thus 
the food that would have been consumed for animal 
heat and energy during the longer period can be 
saved. 

Of course only a good class of cattle can be chosen 
if this style of beef making is to be followed. There 
will be no place in it for scrub animals. Only highly 
bred individuals possessing good quality, good 
health, and right type can be used to win in this race 
of quick finish. But it is obvious that when steers 
can be brought to market condition at an early age 
the profit can be greatly increased. 

This method of beef raising means more than the 
selection of animals having a disposition to fatten. 
It requires more on the part of the feeder, and also 
better feeds, prepared in appetizing forms and so 
compounded as to meet the food requirements at 
every stage of growth. 

GOOD AND BAD BEEF STOCK 

Character of a Good Steer. — The steer that will 
fatten readily is low-set, deep, broad and 
compact, rather than long-legged, gaunt, narrow and 
loosely put together. The broad, compact form indi- 
cates good constitution. Low-set animals are usu- 



I 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 201 

ally good feeders. The top and the under lines 
should be nearly parallel. Prominent hips, tail, head 
and shoulders should be avoided, as smoothness of 
outline is essential. 

Good quality is indicated in a smooth, refined 
head, fine bones, and thin skin, with a covering of 
silk-like hair. The skin should be loose and mellow. 




A Beef Steer of High Quality 

This animal is Black Rock, the grand champion steer of the 1905 Inter- 
national live stock show. He was a good feeder and rendered a splendid 
account of all the feed he consumed. 



Strong constitution is indicated by a wide, deep 
chest, long and well-sprung ribs, compactness of 
form and fineness of bone. 

Two Classes of Beef Animals. — It is obvious that 
lean feeding animals that have depended on scant 
pastures require a different ration when put in the 
feed lot than those in moderate condition. In the 
thin stock the fibers of the flesh need development 



202 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

in order that fat may be stored m between and 
among them. Such animals require a feeding period 
of three or four weeks, in which a greater quantity 
of protein will be given than later on. 

After this preliminary feeding the proportion of 
carbohydrates and fats may be increased. A limit 
as to the amount of fat, however, is to be observed. 
When more than a couple of pounds of digestible 




Rough Feeders 
Poor stock and poor feed, without exception, mean poor farming. 

fat are taken into the system, the appetite and the 
digestion are disturbed. A ration containing from a 
pound to a pound and a half is to be preferred to one 
containing two pounds of fat or more. 

Nature of the Ration. — During the period of 
growth and approach of fattening the amount of 
roughage food may be considerable. This will de- 
crease as the fattening period advances, and more 
of the concentrates will be introduced to meet the 
changing needs of the fattening raJ:ion. For inten- 
sive feeding the coarse fodders, like stover and 
straw, must give way to the legume hays and grain. 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 203 

Pasture is a splendid food, but high finish is sel- 
dom possible with it as the exclusive feed. A short 
period in the feed lot with corn and oil meal or cot- 
tonseed meal is necessary. Pasture feeding is neces- 
sary for profitable money returns covering the 
greater part of the life of the steers. The better the 
condition when taken from pasture the quicker the 
steers can be finished, and consequently the greater 
the profit. 

Even at best, finishing cattle is a risky business 
and needs to be watched with sharp eyes. But 
heavy feeding is desirable. To stretch out the fat- 
tening period is to increase the risk and to lessen 
the profit unless favored by a rising market. Quick 
work in the feed lot is usually cheap fattening. 

FROM CALF TO STEER 

Feeding Calves Intended for Beef. — Two methods 
of feeding are open for young calves. One is to al- 
low the calf to remain with and take its milk from 
its mother, the other is to remove the calf, substi- 
tuting skim milk for the whole milk. The latter 
plan is extending for the reason that butter fat is 
important, commercially. The skim milk fed calf, 
while at a disadvantage, can be profitably developed. 
Excellent substitutes for the fat in the milk are 
available in the grains and can be secured at a small 
cost compared with butter fat. 

A calf raised at its mother's side makes rapid 
growth and at weaning time is in excellent flesh. 
The skim milk calf is usually not so plump but is 



204 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



of larger frame than the whole milk fed calf. Which- 
ever method is followed, in either case the calves 
should be grained in accordance with their needs 
while on the milk diet. They should be fed grain 
just as soon as they will take it. 

The Skim Milk Calf should have oil meal added 




Selected for Baby Beef 

These calves are ready to fatten for baby beef. Well-bred individuals of 
good form and quality are necessary for success in this kind of feeding. 

to its milk diet while the change from whole to skim 
milk is under way. At first a very small amount, 
as little as a tablespoonful, may be given. This 
quantity will be increased when whole milk is no 
longer given, and still further increased as the calf 
grows older and larger. 



II 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 



205 



These calves should be on pasture, be fed oil meal 
and skim milk twice each day, have clean water 
available for drink, and have placed before them a 
mixture of other grains like cracked corn, wheat 
bran and ground oats. If encouraged they will at 
first nibble this ; in time they will eat it greedily. 




Good Veal 

Veal calves sell at good prices, but they withdraw vast numbers from the 
supply of available cattle stock. 



But SO fed they will show steady growth and carry 
good flesh. 

Calves on Whole Milk will show fine flesh at 
weaning time. If allowed to run with their dams on 
good pasture, but little additional food than the milk 
will be necessary. It is an excellent practice, how- 
ever, to encourage whole milk calves to eat grain 



206 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

as soon as they will take to it. Ground oats, bran 
and corn comprise a mixture that always fetches 
good results. Whole milk calves when separated 
from their mothers should have the run of a good 
pasture, and the grain mixture should be fed in in- 
creased quantities right up to weaning time. Ordi- 
narily no mishaps will occur, and after being weaned 
the calves will hold their flesh and keep on gaining 
steadily. 

Making Veal. — While much veal is made from 
feeding skim milk and milk substitute grains, un- 
doubtedly the highest quality of veal is obtained 
by exclusive whole milk feeding. The calf is either 
left with its dam or is early taught to drink milk 
from the pail. If the latter method is followed, it 
may be given all the milk it will consume. If for 
any reason additional food is given, let it be of an 
easily digestible nature, and reasonably high in pro- 
tein. In other words, the nearer it resembles milk 
the better. 

Veal calves should be comfortably housed and re- 
stricted in their freedom of running about. Much 
exercise calls for much food, hence makes more diffi- 
cult the work of fitting for the market. An increase 
of i^ to 2^ pounds in live weight should be ex- 
pected daily. Ordinarily a gain of one pound will 
be made from each gallon of milk consumed. Strong, 
sturdy calves will take from a gallon to a gallon 
and a half of milk soon after birth. This amount 
should be increased steadily until a couple of gallons 
or more are daily consumed. 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 20/ 

Feed During the First Winter. — The aim of feed- 
ing during the first winter should be to supply in 
liberal quantities digestible protein and mineral mat- 
ter. Comfortable quarters must be provided for 
protection against inclement weather. Shelter is of 
more importance during the first winter than at any 
subsequent age. Cattle men are giving less atten- 
tion in these days to inclosed stables and barns than 



I 




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Baby Beef 

These are ready for market and will be sold for baby beef. Note the high 
quality and finish. 

formerly. Open sheds, facing the sun and protected 
from rains and storms, will satisfy all the demands 
for comfort and shelter that full-grown steers 
require. 

The kind of food set before these calves will de- 
pend somewhat upon the age at which they are to 
be marketed. If they are to be finished during late 
spring or early summer on grass, they should have a 
very liberal supply of food, with steadily increasing 



208 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

amounts of grain. The protein supply will be kept 
up because of the rapid growth which calls for this 
nutrient. 

Towards the close of winter the protein require- 
ments decrease markedly in proportion to the live 
weight. Hence, the albuminoid ratio of the ration 
of growing beeves may be steadily widened to the 
limiting value, which is in the neighborhood of one 
part protein to eight to ten of the carbohydrate 
equivalent. Let the food be ample, so as to secure 
growth, but not of such a character as to encourage 
too rapid fattening. 

The best results will be secured during the calves' 
first winter if alfalfa, clover, cowpea or soy bean hay 
is made the basis of the ration. Let the calves have 
about all they will eat. If corn silage is available, 
from lo to 15 pounds may be fed daily. If there is 
a tendency to scour under this feeding, limit the 
legume hay and silage and introduce a few pounds 
of timothy, prairie hay or corn stover. Calves fed 
in this manner should consume from 10 to 13 pounds 
of roughage daily. 

As for grain, nothing is better than corn, and par- 
ticularly so if a legume hay is fed. From two to 
four pounds may be fed each day. In case grass 
hays, corn stover and corn silage must be used for 
roughage, some protein concentrate will be neces- 
sary in addition to corn. For this purpose linseed 
oil meal, cottonseed meal or soy bean meal may 
be used. A pound or two of either, mixed with the 
corn, will meet the requirements. Oats are good, 
but the price usually is against them. 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 



209 



Finishing Beeves Under 18 Months. — When 
calves are to be finished as baby beeves, their ration 
will take on more and more grain concentrates as 
winter passes. Corn should be fed in liberal 
amounts, from one-half to three-quarters of the 
grain portion consisting of it. In case legumes are 




Prime Steers 

On many farms it is more profitable to carry the steers to greater age than 
to market as baby beef. This is a bunch of prime steers. 



largely fed, the grain portion may consist largely 
of corn, with enough oil meal or bran to give a safe 
supply of protein. In the absence of alfalfa, clover 
or other legume hay, one of the oil meals should be 
used to the extent of 20 per cent of the grain. 

The ration should be steadily increased to meet 
the steady growth and weight taken on during the 



210 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



several weeks of feeding. By spring these calves, 
now yearlings, should weigh from 800 to 1,000 
pounds and be in such good flesh that they may be 
marketed in a very short time after being put on 
a finishing ration. If finished at once, the roughage 
will be decreased and concentrates proportionally 




Herd of Angus in Middle West 

Beef raising has long been popular in the middle west, where corn, alfalfa, 
clover and other beef-growing crops flourish so abundantly. 



increased, but consisting of the same or similar feed- 
ing stufifs as previously fed. 

Baby Beeves Finished on Grass. — In case pasture 
is abundant the grain can be fed less heavily dur- 
ing winter and the finishing of the calves ended a 
few weeks later on grass. Less grain will be re- 
quired under this plan during the winter. On grass, 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 211 

however, an ample supply of grain will be called 
for. The grain ration should contain 15 to 20 per 
cent of oil meal or cottonseed meal if the calves are 
pastured on timothy, prairie, Bermuda or blue grass. 
If the pasture consists of mixed grasses, clover and 
alfalfa, not more than 10 per cent of the concen- 
trates need to be of a protein nature. Calves fed in 
this manner should weigh from 1,000 to 1,200 
pounds and be ready for market before tormenting 
insects and hot weather come to annoy them. 

BEEVES FINISHED AT TWO YEARS OF 
AGE 

Objections Against Baby Beef. — For animals 
brought up to marketable stage as baby beef, con- 
tinuous grain feeding from birth to the end is neces- 
sary. Whether this is best is still an unsettled prob- 
lem, even though many men are able to secure good 
profits by following the plan. The method has its 
limitations. While adaptable to the lines of farm- 
ing operated on certain farms, the practice of car- 
rying cattle along until in the range at two years of 
age is still the more popular practice. Most likely 
it meets the conditions of the average farm on which 
beef cattle are grown. 

In the first place the steer is, by nature, a good 
instrument for converting large amounts of coarse 
or bulk food into meat. The pig is not able to do 
this. Compared with the pig, the baby beef steer 
renders a less satisfactory account of the grain it 
consumes. For this reason doubtless this pig com- 



212 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

petitor will limit the extent to which baby beef will 
be produced. 

When calves are fed that they may be ready for 
market at or around two years of age, their first 
winter's food should be of such a nature as to secure 
favorable growth and to keep them steadily on the 
gain. The manner of feeding will depend on the 
nature of the roughage foods, as has been discussed 
heretofore. In the spring these calves will go on 
grass, and if the pasture is good, grain will ordina- 
rily not be fed. If hot, dry weather cuts short the 
pasture, light grain feeding will be advisable. The 
skillful farmer will watch these matters as they 
arise and meet them in accordance with his best 
judgment, which wnll be influenced very largely by 
the amount, kind, and market value of the grain on 
hand, and the cost incidental to obtaining a supply 
of commercial feeds. 

During the second winter the steers will be fed 
on hay, stover, and silage if available, and grain. 
The steers should be allowed to eat all the rough- 
age food they want. If alfalfa, clover or other 
legume hay is fed, more corn in the grain mixture 
may be used. In the absence of a legume hay then 
protein concentrates will be necessary. From two 
to five pounds may be fed daily at first. The nature 
of the hay, the character of the cattle, and the mar- 
ket price of feed, must all be considered in deciding 
the kind and amount of each. 

Finishing Two-Year-Olds on Grass. — In feeding 
out steers that have passed through two winters and 
are in good flesh pastures are a great help. During 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 



213 



the second winter grain will be fed rather liberally. 
By May or June such animals ought to be of a mar- 
ketable finish if turned on good pasture and fed 
heavily on grain. Corn is sufficient on alfalfa ; but, 
pastured on mixed grasses, at least 10 per cent of 
the grain should consist of oil meal, cottonseed meal 
or gluten meal. Steers fed in this way should gain 
two pounds on the grain mixture. 




Cattle on Alfalfa 
With corn and alfalfa in abundance there is always profit in cattle raising. 



Summer Feeding on Grass. — On many farms 
early spring pasturing is delayed until grass has at- 
tained a fine growth, and the sod has become dry 
enough after the spring rains to prevent injury from 
tramping. During this period the steers are con- 
tinued in the feed lot and fed silage, hay and grain 
in amounts liberal enough to give a fair rate of in- 
crease at a reasonable cost. The steers are then put 
on pasture, the grain increased and a market finish 
obtained as early in the summer as possible. 



214 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Care will need to be exercised in changing from 
dry feed to grass; otherwise shrinkage will be cer- 
tain to follow. The steers should be turned on the 
pasture for a short time at first, gradually lengthen- 
ing the grazing period day by day. In this manner 
they will become accustomed to grass and the risk 




Familiar Scene on the Stock Farm 

Cattle take their grain from the feed box and the pigs gather up what 
falls to the ground. Usually no additional food is given the pigs other 
than what they gather from the waste and the droppings. 



of scours will be minimized. An attack of scours 
will do much harm ; often it will cause a loss of a 
month or more in the steer's growth. 

Fall Feeding on Grass. — On many farms the older 
beeves are pastured through the summer, with little 
or considerable grain, as the case may be, and fin- 
ished on new corn. The corn is hauled direct from 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 21 5 

the cornfield to the pasture and is fed on the stalk. 
If little or any grain has been given previously, only 
a small feed at first is hauled out to them. As 
rapidly as may be done safely the corn may be in- 
creased, until in a month or six weeks the steers are 
on full feed. From now on they may refuse much of 
the forage. Where this forage is of value, snapped 
corn should be substituted for half of the ration. 

If the pasture is short, at the beginning of 
winter, shocked corn may be used for roughage. 
When the pasture is no longer available, protein 
feeds must be used, and some shelled or ground corn 
used in connection with them. Under this system 
of feeding, pigs should be permitted to follow the 
steers, else much valuable grain will be wasted. Not 
only will this method admit of steady growth of the 
pigs, but these animals will practically grow up to 
marketable finish, thus giving a double chance of 
profit from the use of the grain. 

FEEDING FULL-GROWN CATTLE 

Older Steers Are Still Marketed. — In some sec- 
tions cheap lands are yet the rule and more pasture 
is available than could be used economically under 
the tillage system utilized. Under these circum- 
stances older steers are preferred. They are bought 
of neighboring farmers at all ages and at small cost 
and turned on pasture where they are forced to shift 
for themselves. So placed they grow slowly, may 
or may not keep steadily on a gain, but in time at- 
tain size and foundation for fattening. 



2l6 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



The initial cost is, of course, inconsiderable, and 
the outlay for feed is practically nothing. During 
favorable seasons pastures may be good. Then 
rapid increase will follow as a certainty. Steers 
raised in this manner mature slowly, but they will 
not have cost much. Even if they are three years 
old or more, the total cost will be at such a low 




i 



Feeding Beef Cattle in the Open 

It used to be thought that steers were most profitably fattened when stall 
fed. It has been found that they do even better if cared for in the open. 
Many feeders prefer open sheds for feeding during inclement weather. 



figure that some profit is bound to result. The fin- 
ishing period, preliminary to getting ready for 
slaughtering, may be short or long. It will depend 
somewhat on the condition of the animals and the 
state of the market. Given the run of a good pas- 
ture, and supplied corn and other concentrates for 
a short period, a reasonable finish and often highly 
satisfactory money results are to be expected. 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 217 

Often steers of this nature are carefully and pains- 
takingly fattened, and when sold bring the highest 
prices that the market pays. 

Fatten the Heifers Early. — Heifer calves are very 
good for baby beef. They naturally take on fat and 
flesh, and if brought up to a marketable condition 
by the time they are a year or a year and a half 
old they will fetch as good prices as steers of the 
same age. By turning heifers ofif as baby beeves 
annoyance from the period of heat is lessened. 
Otherwise, unless spayed, heifers will fret and dis- 
turb the rest of the herd periodically, and not attain 
best development themselves. It follows that if 
many such heifers are in a herd there will be con- 
tinuous excitement and disturbance, which is bad 
for the entire bunch. It means that the heifers must 
be separated as they come in heat if the trouble is 
to be squarely faced ; but it is a fact that few cattle 
men do this. Ridding the herd of these open heifers 
at an early age as baby beeves seems to be a sensi- 
ble and wise settlement of an annoying problem. 

PROMINENT FEEDING STUFFS 

Many Kinds of Roughage Foods. — Local condi- 
tions will have much to do in the choice of rough- 
age foods. The various hay crops, corn stover, fod- 
der corn, and silage are all valuable at certain 
periods of the steer's growth. They will be used in 
scant or liberal quantities, in accordance with the 
supply and the general style of farming. Pastures 
either of a temporary or a permanent nature w^ill go 



2l8 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



hand in hand with the forage crops grown on the 
farm. The aim of the future should be to include 
the legumes more and more, although the grass hays 
and the products of the corn plant will always oc- 
cupy an important place in the food supply for grow- 
ing and fattening cattle. 



I 




Champion Steers 

This carload of steers was awarded champion honors at a recent live 
stock show. 



It is not so much what kind of roughage is to be 
used as it is that there be an abundance. With even 
inferior roughage it is possible to develop cattle 
economically if good pastures are available and pro- 
tein concentrates in reasonable amount are fed. It 
should be remembered that if there is much corn 
stover there is also much ear corn. This corn can 
be fed or exchanged for other concentrates that 
carry large quantities of protein, to assist in balanc- 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 2ig 

ing the stover or the silage. In addition to this 
some of the legumes should be fed. It is a poor sys- 
tem of farming that will not admit clover, cowpeas 
and soy beans, even though alfalfa has not been 
successfully grown 

The roughage materials successfully grown in a 
community are satisfactory basic foods for growing 
beef. The art will rest with their employment in 
feeding rations in connection with other balancing 
foods to give the right balance. Cattle should not 
simply have thrown before them such foods as are 
at hand. These foods should be so prepared and 
balanced as to provide the necessary food nutrients 
in the proper proportion that cattle of the specific 
age shall demand. 

Leading Grain Foods. — Corn is first in the list of 
grain products. It is fed in many forms — ground, 
shelled, on the ear, crushed with the cob, in the 
shuck, and green on the stalk. So universally is it 
grown and so readily adapted is it to practically all 
sections that it will continue to be the chief grain 
provided in most rations for feeding steers for beef. 
It carries much starch and oil, and is therefore 
largely a fattening food. It stands high nevertheless 
as a growing or developing food, but being some- 
what lacking in protein, it is not and should not 
be considered an exclusive grain for growing ani- 
mals. 

Fortunately there is a wide choice of supplemen- 
tary concentrates to use in connection with corn. 
Chief among these for steers are, cottonseed meal, 
linseed oil meal, soy bean meal, wheat bran, the 



220 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



glutens, and various by-products of starch and cereal 
factories. It is unnecessary here to record the long 
list of grain products that enter into the production 
of beef. Some are local feeds ; some are prohibitive 
because of their value for other purposes ; and some, 
while good and available, are ordinarily outclassed 
as fattening foods because of the better qualities 
and larger supply of such grains and concentrates, 
as previously mentioned. 




Track Contrivance for Feeding Cattle 

The grain is prepared and mixed in the barn and later delivered by means 
of the track and cars to the feeding pens. In this way much labor is saved. 

Whether grains shall be ground, crushed or fed 
v^hole, or whether they shall be fed on pasture or 
in the feed lot, in outside racks or in closed stalls, 
will depend upon circumstances, the management 
of the farm and the nature of the man. What is 
most important of all is to grow as much corn as 
can be profitably grown ; to grow as much roughage 
as the method of farming will admit, and to have 
as much of this of a legume nature as possible; to 



FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 221 

use home-grown corn to feed in connection with this 
roughage ; and, finally, to supplement roughage and 
corn with other concentrates purchased outright or 
secured in exchange for corn and fed in such ways 
as will give balanced rations to meet the ever- 
changing needs of the steers under feed. 

SOME SAMPLE RATIONS 
Maintenance Ration for Breeding Cows. 

The following rations are for cows during the win- 
ter and without calves : 

1. Corn silage, 20 pounds; clover hay, 3 pounds; 

oat straw, 10 pounds. 

2. Shock corn, 8 pounds ; clover hay, 3 pounds; 

oat straw, 10 pounds. 

3. Shredded stover, 10 pounds ; clover hay, 5 

pounds. 

Winter Yearlings With and Without Grain. 

1. Corn silage, 15 pounds; clover hay, 15 pounds. 

2. Clover hay, 10 pounds ; corn stover, 10 pounds ; 

corn, 3 pounds. 

3. Timothy hay, 8 pounds ; clover hay, 8 pounds ; 

corn, 3 pounds. 

4. Alfalfa hay, 10 pounds ; corn, 5 pounds. 

5. Cowpea hay, 10 pounds ; corn, 5 pounds. 

6. Clover hay, 14 pounds; corn, 3 pounds. 

7. Alfalfa, 7 pounds ; corn stover, 6 pounds ; corn, 

3 pounds. 



222 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Rations for Fattening Steers. 

1. Shelled corn, 21 pounds; cottonseed meal, 2 

pounds; clover hay, 4 pounds; corn silage, 15 
pounds. 

2. Corn, 22 pounds ; alfalfa hay, 5 pounds ; corn 

stover, 5 pounds, 

3. Corn, 14 pounds ; alfalfa hay, 10 pounds ; corn 

stover, 7 pounds. 

4. Ear corn, 20 pounds ; gluten or oil meal, 3 

pounds ; clover hay, 8 pounds. 

5. Ear corn, 13 pounds; oil meal, 2 pounds; shock 

corn, 15 pounds; clover hay, 7 pounds. 

6. Kafir corn, 15 pounds; cottonseed meal, 3 

pounds; cottonseed hulls, 13 pounds. 

7. Corn, 15 pounds; cottonseed meal, 3 pounds; 

mixed hay, 10 pounds. 

8. Cottonseed hulls, 25 pounds; cottonseed meal, 

6>^ pounds. 

9. Alfalfa hay, 9 pounds ; corn, 18 pounds. 

10. Corn silage, 24 pounds ; mixed hay, 5 pounds ; 

shelled corn, 15 pounds; cottonseed meal, 2 
pounds. 

11. Corn silage, 30 pounds; shelled corn, 16 

pounds ; cottonseed meal, 3 pounds. 

12. Cassava, 35 pounds; peavine hay, 10 pounds; 

cottonseed meal, 4 pounds. 



I 



CHAPTER XIX 



FEEDING SHEEP 



Food Requirements for Sheep.— The Wolff-Leh- 
mann standards for feeding the various classes of 
sheep are shown in the table below. They indicate 
the amount of food required per i,ooo pounds live 
weight for both wool and mutton, and for growing, 
mature and fattening sheep. 



WOLFF-LEHMANN STANDARDS FOR FEEDING SHEEP 







Dry 


Digestible nutrients 








Carbo- 




Nutritive 


Kind of sheep 


matter 


Pi'otein 


hydrates 


Fat 


ratio 


Growing sheep 












Wool breeds 












Age in 












months Weight 












4 to 6 


60 


25 


3.4 


15.4 


0.7 


1:5.0 


6 to 8 


75 


25 


2.8 


13.8 


0.6 


1:5.4 


8 to 11 


80 


23 


2.1 


11.5 


0.5 


i :6.0 


11 to 15 


90 


22 


1.8 


11.2 


0.4 


1:7.0 


15 to 20 


100 


22 


1.5 


10.8 


0.3 


1:7.7 


Growing sheep 












Mutton breeds 












4 to 6 


60 


26 


4.4 


15.5 


0.9 


1:4.0 


6 to 8 


80 


26 


3.5 


15.0 


0.7 


1:4.8 


8 toll 


100 


24 


3.0 


14.3 


0.5 


1:5.2 


11 to 15 


120 


23 


2.2 


12.6 


0.5 


1:6.3 


15 to 20 


150 


22 


2.0 


12.0 


0.4 


1:6.5 


Mature sheep 












Coarse wool . . 


20 


1.2 


10.5 


0.2 . 


1:9.1 


Fine wool . . . 


23 


1.5 


12.0 


0.3 


1:8.5 


Breeding ewes 












Avith lambs . . 


25 


2.9 


15.0 


0.5 


1:5.6 


Fattening sheep 












First period . . 


30 


3.0 


15.0 


0.5 


1:5.4 


Second period 


28 


3.5 


14.5 


0.6 


1:4.5 



223 



FEEDING SHEEP 225 

. Wool and Mutton. — The food consumed by sheep 
is used for both flesh and wool. Hence, these ani- 
mals have a double requirement to meet. Wool con- 
tains much nitrogen, and a slightly more liberal 
supply of protein is demanded than for either swine 
or beeves. Sheep, too, are very active creatures ; 
their body surface is proportionately greater than 
that of beeves. Because of this they require more 
food, proportionately. 

The larger breeds of sheep require about one 
pound of digestible protein to eight pounds of starch 
equivalent, the smaller breeds slightly more. The 
wool growth becomes less active as the food supply 
is reduced, but if more food is given than the ani- 
mal has use for, the rate of wool growth will not be 
increased. 

Relative Economy of Sheep, Steers and Pigs.— 
Compared with swine, the sheep does not render 
quite as good an account of its food as does the pig; 
in fact, it requires nearly twice as much digestible 
organic matter to produce loo pounds of gaiii. 
While this is true, it is not to be forgotten that much 
of the sheep's provender is in the form of hay or 
other roughage and of a nature that the pig could 
not use. Pigs demand easily digested food, and that 
largely in the form of grain. From the point of 
profit, therefore, the sheep is not at a disadvantage 
at all. 

Compared with steers, sheep have slightly the 
better of it. Nearly 50 years ago Lawes and Gil- 
bert determined that, covering a whole fattening 
period, a steer, to produce 100 pounds of increase, 



22,6 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



requires 3,500 pounds of swedes, 600 pounds of 
clover hay and 250 pounds of oil meal. To produce 
the same increase these investigators found that 
sheep require 4,000 pounds of swedes, 300 pounds 
of clover hay and 250 pounds of oil meal. The ad- 
vantage as between steers and sheep was slightly 
with the latter. 

Wide Variety of Feed for Sheep. — The variety of 



•<l,..#e«£:?' 



'M «lr:: . :;ir .^^ * i^^ 






Sheep Range in the Northwest 

foods suitable for feeding sheep is extensive. Hay,!}! 
straw, corn stover, roots of various kinds, corn, oats, ■■ 
peas, rye, buckwheat, cottonseed meal, linseed oil 
meal, and bran furnish a variety from which a 
proper choice can readily be made. The relative \ 
feeding values of these various substances used as { 
food will determine the relative money values, and 
as these differ and fluctuate from time to time, it is 



FEEDING SHEEP 22/ 

often necessary, in order to secure the most profit 
on the feeding, to choose the food that is most 
economical to use, although it may be the highest 
in price. Cottonseed meal, while one of the highest 
priced concentrates on the market, is at the same 
time a heavy carrier of protein, and when a rough- 
age material like corn stover or timothy hay is fed, 
cottonseed meal is really a cheaper food than corn 
at a much less cost. It is not only advisable, but 
very profitable, to pay a higher price for this grain 
than for other less heavy protein carriers, even at 
prices considerably less. 

The two most valuable feeds for winter use are 
clover and alfalfa. Cut when in blossom, cured so 
as to preserve all good qualities and kept from damp 
and mold, each of these is a good basic food for all 
feeding purposes, and where a maintenance diet is 
desired each will practically meet the requirements 
without any additional supply. Well-cured pea 
straw comes third in the list, and is liked by sheep 
better than either timothy or any other grass or 
cereal hay. 

Oat hay, if cut when the grains are in the milk 
stage, is much liked and is an admirable feed for 
sheep. Fodder corn is greedily eaten, blades, husks 
and ears, the hard stalks only being rejected. When 
fodder corn is fed, some protein food like oil meal, 
bran, pea meal, or a mixture should be fed in addi- 
tion. 

Choosing the Feed. — While there is wide choice 
as to the variety of food, those foods that furnish 
abundant flesh should be chosen for the grow- 



228 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

ing classes, and those rich in starch and oil selected 
for fattening. The protein supply should be suffi- 
cient, else the body will not be properly supported, 
wool growth will be checked, and the readiest digestion 
of the carbohydrates and fats will not be secured. 
This last point must always be kept in mind in feed- 
ing any class of live stock. 

Much may be gained by varying or mixing the 
food so as to stimulate the appetite. A healthy sheep 
will increase in weight in proportion to the food 
consumed only as long as digestion and assimilation 
are of a high order. If a sheep can be made to in- 
crease its diet by the addition of roots or appetizing 
concentrates, a manifest advantage is gained. 

Roots Always Fine for Sheep. — Roots, a staple 
food, are of the greatest value in winter feeding 
of sheep. When fed in proper quantities, their laxa- 
tive effect healthfully opposes the tendency of dry 
straw or hay to produce costiveness. If fed in ex- 
cess, the quantity of water they contain and their 
large bulk, especially when used in winter, reduce 
the temperature of the animal considerably and 
gradually act unfavorably on the health. Watery 
foods are not good for sheep. Sheep need succu- 
lence, but roots and green crops should be consid- 
ered as supplements only, and not as the basic por- 
tions of the ration. 

The roots most commonly fed are sugar beets, 
mangels, rutabagas and turnips. Each kind is fav- 
orable in effect upon the quality of the wool. The 
quantity of roots to be given will depend on the 
kind of sheep. As a safe guide, it may be stated 



FEEDING SHEEP 



229 



that one bushel of roots will be sufficient as a daily 
allowance for 10 sheep weighing 150 pounds each, 
if along with the roots i^ pounds of hay and ^ 
pound of meal or bran are given daily to each animal. 
Sheep Require Water. — During the summer sheep 
frequently are put on pastures where water is not 
available. While they may be able to subsist under 



^^-w^r-^- .-r 














V'S> 



» titiitffiin 







Temporary Pastures Best for Sheep 

If grazed over the same land year after year the pastures become infested 
with parasites. On permanent pastures sheep should be changed frequently. 
Temporary pastures of timothy and clover provide rich forage and the 
constant turning of the land by the plow keeps the parasites in check. 



these conditions they often suffer, and even perish, 
from lack of water. So long as heavy dews gather 
on the grass considerable water is taken into the 
system and its demand is in this way met, but in the 
hot summer, when dews are infrequent or totally 
lacking and pastures are dry, there is a decided need 
for water. This must be provided if satisfactory 



230 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

growth is to be secured. It is an old fallacy that 
sheep do not need water. 

When Turning to Pasture. — Change from dry 
forage to fresh pasture gradually. An afternoon is 
best when no moisture is on the grass. After feed- 
ing on this pasture for a short time return the flock 
to the yard. Repeat in this manner for a few days, 
and little if any digestive disturbances will arise. 
After four or five days the sheep will become accus- 
tomed to green feed. 

Proportion of Grain to Roughage. — Practical 
feeders have found no definite rule to use in this 
matter. If grain is abundant and hay scarce, more 
grain is fed than when the opposite condition ob- 
tains. For economical gains the roughage material 
will be fed in as large quantities as the animals may 
be induced to eat. Some grain, however, is neces- 
sary. The amount will vary from i^ to 2 pounds 
of roughage to one pound of grain. Under average 
feeding conditions about 300 pounds of grain and 
500 pounds of roughage will be required to give 
100 pounds of increase. If on blue grass or rape 
pasture, about 175 pounds of corn should secure 100 
pounds of gain. 

How Often to Feed Sheep. — Usually sheep, when 
being fattened, are fed twice each day. Slightly bet- 
ter returns have been observed when three feeds are 
provided. The gain is not large, but it is frequently 
sufficient to meet more than the cost in labor and 
trouble. 

Feeding Corn in the Field. — When sheep are at 
pasture ear corn may be scattered about, two or 



FEEDING SHEEP 



231 



three bushels each day to each 100 sheep in the flock. 
The corn should be thinly scattered, and fed half in 
the morning and half at night. This practice may 
be followed during any season of the year. 

Rape an Excellent Sheep Feed. — This splendid 
forage crop combines well with corn. Where corn 
in the field is fed off, it is desirable that rape be 
seeded in the field at the last cultivation. Ordina- 
rily, the sheep will blend the two feeds, consuming 




Sheep on Rape Pasture 



both corn and rape. If rape is seeded separately and 
sheep turned on it to graze, the addition of one to 
two bushels of corn a head during the fattening 
period of 100 days is to be commended. 

Roughage Feeds. — Pasture is entitled to the first 
place of good roughage feeds. It may consist of 
alfalfa, clover, mixed grasses, or blue grass. After 
these come the roots and rape. Each has its place. 
Cured as hay, naturally alfalfa and clover fall in the 



232 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

first rank, and are always to be preferred for lamb 
feeding, fattening ewes or wethers, or during the 
lambing season. In their absence the mixed hays 
may be used, but heavier grain feeding will be neces- 
sary, particularly at lambing time. 

Temporary Fences by Means of Hurdles. — In 
grazing forage crops like peas and rape, temporary 
fences in the form of hurdles may be used. These 
hurdles are moved forward every few days, provid- 
ing in this way a strip of fresh pasture. Otherwise, 
if given the run of a field, much forage will be de- 
stroyed and soiled by tramping. Move the hurdles 
before the eaten-over portion has been cleaned up. 

Putting Sheep on Full Grain Rations. — If grain 
has been fed while sheep are at pasture, it is an 
easy matter to change from pasture to yard and put 
on fattening rations. Beginning with a fourth of a 
pound of grain daily, the amount may gradually be 
increased by a fourth of a pound the second week, 
and so on. At the end of the fourth week the ani- 
mals should be cleaning up a pound or more of grain 
each day. By the end of two months a daily allow- 
ance of lYi or 2 pounds may be fed. It is seldom 
advisable to feed more than two pounds of grain a 
head daily. The good shepherd watches his sheep 
and observes the first indication of bad appetite. 
When noticed, he corrects the trouble at once. 

Green Crops for Roughage. — Sheep are most at 
home in pasture fields. They feed not only on the 
tender grass blades, but they strip weeds and other 
foul plants of their leaves and branches. They are 
in truth the plant scavengers of the farm. But kept 



FEEDING SHEEP 233 

on the same land in the same field year after year 
without change the pastures become foul, disease 
lurks in the soil and dangerous parasites accumu- 
late. For these reasons sheep should be changed 
frequently from field to field, from year to year, and 
except in the case of well-established permanent 
pastures, crop rotation should be followed so the 
fields may be clean of disease or parasites and may 
be ever fresh with new-growing grass crops. 

Over a good part of the country timothy and 
clover, with red top and alsike or white clover occa- 
sionally mixed, comprise much of the pasture land. 
The prairie grasses of the west and Bermuda grass 
of the south take care of the local needs in these 
parts of the country. Blue grass is the stand-by of 
the old grazing sections ; in addition to it other 
crops may find place and may be profitably grown. 
Rye seeded in August makes a fairly good pasture 
for lambs and old sheep in the fall. It will furnish 
excellent grazing in the spring before the clovers, 
alfalfa and blue grass are available. 

Some of the Best Grains. — Corn stands first be- 
cause it is so universally grown. It is well liked by 
sheep and makes profitable gains. It may be fed 
in the husk, on the stalk, in the feed rack, in the field, 
crushed, ground or shelled. Some feeders dislike 
to use corn when finely ground, because sheep eat it 
too greedily. Ear corn is satisfactory for winter 
yearlings and ewes. 

Oats are fed to some extent, but they should be 
ground or crushed. They make excellent feed for 
either lambs, or ewes in milk. Compared with many 



234 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Other feeding stuffs oats are rather expensive, and 
for this reason they often giye way to linseed oil 
meal, cottonseed meal, soy beans, and wheat bran. 
Wheat bran, being bulky, is splendid to use in a 
mixture with the oil meals. 

Wheat screenings, where available, give good re- 
turns. Not many years back screenings were a 
principal part of fattening rations. This food prod- 
uct has been very largely taken over by stock food 
and commercial food factories, thus leaving only a 
small amount for sheep feeding. Screenings are 



#". ^± 








_i 




Out at Pasture 

The sheep have been kept thrifty by wise feeding and careful attention. 
Both ewes and lambs are together. 



ground and mixed with various weed seeds and 
other by-products of the cereal food factories. . The 
price at which these foods are sold is high and usu- 
ally out of proportion to the price that sheep bring 
in the market. 

With the breaking up of large flocks, sheep will 
be raised more and more in small flocks on small 
farms of 50 to 100 acres. On such farms they will 
have the run of the temporary pastures, will be fed 



FEEDING SHEEP 235 

the hay crops ordinarily raised on the farm, will be 
supplied to some extent with silage, and fattened on 
rape, cowpeas, soy beans, corn, oil meal and cotton- 
seed meal and the ordinary roughage materials cus- 
tomarily grown on each farm. 

Feeding Lambs for Market. — For most markets 
the feeding process begins late in the fall or the early 
winter. In addition to late fall pasture, such as rye, 
rape, new growth of blue grass, young clover or al- 




Ready for Market 
Their ration consisted of clover hay, oil meal, ground oats, and corn. 

falfa, lambs will have been using in many instances 
leguminous hays or other dry fodder, so that by the 
time they are actually confined in close feeding pens 
and placed upon a fattening ration their digestive 
systems will have become accustomed to dry feed. 
So handled they will be in condition to use econom- 
ically large amounts of forage and grain, and should 
gain from the first week after being placed in con- 
finement. 



236 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Roots and succulent feeds are not essential in 
successful lamb feeding. Experiments indicate that 
under some conditions these feeds may be detrimen- 
tal to the most economical gains. It is a mooted 
question and will have to be worked out by every 
feeder. A well-balanced ration consisting of hay 
and grain, plenty of water, regular feeding and com- 
fortable quarters are the factors that produce nearly 
all the fat lambs. Alfalfa is beyond question the 
best forage, but in its absence clover, cowpeas or 
other leguminous forage is a good substitute and 
practically indispensable. If such forage is not at 
hand, then sugar cane, kafir corn, millet or mixed 
hay, cut at the proper period and carefully cured, 
will give good gains, although more grain will be 
necessary. 

The grain ration will consist largely of corn. 
Cracked corn is usually preferred to whole corn. 
Small amounts of oil meal, ground oats, or both, 
may be introduced into the ration with good effect ; 
if a leguminous hay is not used, one of them should 
certainly be added. Lambs should weigh about 60 
pounds when placed in the feed lot. After a feed- 
ing period of 60 to 90 days they should weigh from 
90 to 95 pounds. Often heavier weights than these 
are obtained, but when a lamb weighs more than 
100 pounds he is likely to be discriminated against 
by buyers and may possibly have to be sold for a 
sheep instead of a lamb, at a lower price. 

Fattening Grown Sheep. — The feeding of wethers 
or grown ewes for market does not dififer much from 
the method employed in fattening lambs. On some 



FEEDING SHEEP 



237 



farms lambs are held over a season to utilize 
plentiful pasture and to secure one or two wool 
clips. Such sheep also weigh more at market time, 
although they bring a smaller price per pound. 
These older sheep, kept on good pasture throughout 
the summer and placed in the feed lot in winter, 
usually make excellent use of grain and hay. They 
may be marketed during late winter or early spring. 




Poor Way to Feed Sheep 

On many farms corn is fed to sheep on the ear and stalk. This is a 
disappearing custom. When so fed a clean pasture is the best place to 
scatter the feed. Even then a large amount of fodder is wasted, for sheep 
will not eat what has once been run over. 

Concentrated feeds are essential. They should be 
used m connection with bright, clean leguminous 
hays and so mixed with the hay as to give a well- 
balanced ration. Corn, bran, ground oats, oil meal 
and cottonseed meal, are all excellent. During early 
winter, corn silage and alfalfa or clover hay may be 
fed exclusively. In other cases fodder corn and 



238 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

mixed hay may be used for roughage, with wheat 
bran and corn for grain, about Yi pound of a mixture 
of corn and bran being given daily to each animal. 
As they plump up, the grain may be increased grad- 
ually, until it reaches as much as two or even three 
pounds a day. 

Where alfalfa or clover is used, a pound of corn 
daily will be satisfactory. If alfalfa or clover is 
freely used and corn is relatively low in price and 
hay high, then cut down the allotment of hay and 
feed one or two pounds of corn daily. Where some 
grass hay or corn stover, shredded or unshredded, 
is the only source of roughage, bran and one of the 
oil meals should be used in addition to the corn. If 
fed throughout the winter in this manner, a heavy 
wool clip may be secured the following spring before 
the animals are marketed. Thus satisfactory profits 
will ordinarily be secured. 

SOME SAMPLE RATIONS 

For Lambs Weighing 50 to 60 Pounds. 

The following rations, in common use, secure sat- 
isfactory gains. The amount of feed here sug- 
gested is for flocks of 50 and the daily allow- 
ance for all : 

1. Mixed hay, 50 pounds; roots, 50 pounds; corn, 

45 pounds; oats, 6 pounds. 

2. Mixed hay, 50 pounds; roots, 50 pounds; bran, 

25 pounds; linseed meal, 20 pounds; cotton- 
seed meal, 15 pounds. 

3. Cottonseed hulls, 60 pounds; cottonseed meal, 

40 pounds. 



FEEDING SHEEP 



230 



For Lambs Weighing 60 to 80 Pounds. 

In flocks of 50 and daily allowance. 

1. Corn, 75 pounds shelled; clover hay, 50 pounds. 

2. Corn, 40 pounds, shelled; bran, 40 pounds; 

clover hay, 50 pounds. 

3. Oil meal, 15 pounds; corn, 65 pounds; clover 

hay, 50 pounds. 

4. Alfalfa hay, 125 pounds; corn, 35 pounds. 

For Lambs Weighing 80 to 100 Pounds. 

In flocks of 50 and daily allowance. 

1. Pasture and 40 pounds of corn. 

2. Pasture and 35 pounds of oats. 

3. Clover hay, 85 pounds ; corn, 45 pounds ; gluten, 

20 pounds ; bran, 10 pounds. 

4. Clover hay, 85 pounds; bran, 10 pounds; soy 

beans, 65 pounds. 

For Sheep in Winter. 

1. Corn silage and alfalfa or clover hay. 

2. Roots, 5 bushels; hay, 75 pounds; meal or 

bran — use 25 pounds for a flock of 50 sheep. 

3. Fodder corn, mixed hay and wheat bran and 

corn, with not more than a half pound of 
grain per animal. 

Sheep on Full Feed. 

1. From a quarter to a half pound of clover hay 

and from ^y^ to 3^^ pounds of grain each 
daily. 

2. Alfalfa, 2 pounds, and ^ of a pound of corn 

each daily. 



240 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

3. Hay, i^ pounds, and corn i to 3 pounds each 

daily. 

4. Free use of alfalfa or clover and i pound of 

corn daily when grain is costly and hay rela- 
tively cheap. If the reverse, limit the hay 
and feed from i to 2 pounds of corn daily. 

For Ewes with Lambs at Side. 

1. Corn silage, 4 pounds; mangels or other roots, 

I pound; and i}^ pounds of mixed grain, con- 
sisting of a mixture of 100 pounds of bran, 
30 pounds of ground oats, 45 pounds of 
cracked oil cake, and 25 pounds of corn. 

2. Alfalfa or clover hay, 2 pounds; corn, i pound; 

hay or oil meal, 0.5 pound. 



CHAPTER XX 

FEEDING SWINE 

Food Requirements for Swine. — The Wolff-Leh- 
mann standards for feeding the various classes of 
swine are shown in the table below. They indicate 
the amount of food required per i,ooo pounds live 
weight and are for growing pigs, brood sows and 
fattening hogs. 



WOLFF-LEHMANN STANDARDS FOR FEEDING 


SWINE 


Growing- swine 












Breeding • 


Dry 


Digestible nutrients 




Age in 






Carbo- 




Nutritive 


months 


Weight 


matter 


Protein 


hydrates 


Fat 


ratio 


2 to 3 


50 


44 


7.6 


28.0 


1.0 


1:4.0 


3 to 5 


100 


35 


5.0 


23.1 


0.8 


1:5.0 


5 to 6 


120 


32 


3.7 


21.3 


0.4 


1:6.0 


6 to 8 


200 


28 


2.8 


18.7 


0.3 


1:7.0 


8 to 12 


250 


25 


2.1 


15.3 


0.2 


1:7.5 


Growing swine 












Fattening 












2 to 3 


, 50 


44 


7.6 


28.0 


1.0 


1:4.0 


3 to 5 


100 


35 


5.0 


23.1 


0.8 


1:5.0 


5 to 6 


150 


33 


4.3 


22.3 


0.6 


1:5.5 


6 to 8 


200 


30 


3.6 


20.5 


0.4 


1:6.0 


8 to 12 


300 


26 


3.0 


18.3 


0.3 


1:6.4 


Brood sows .... 


22 


2.5 


15.5 


0.4 


1:6.6 


Fattening swine 












First period . . 


36 


4.5 


25.0 


0.7 


1:5.9 


Second period 


32 


4.0 


24.0 


0.5 


1:6.3 


Third period. . 


25 


2.7 


18.0 


0.4 


1:7.0 



Hogs Consume Much and Give Generous Returns. 

The hog is at home with poor and rich; he works 



241 




242 




FEEDING SWINE 243 

energetically for both. Whether Inclosed in muddy 
pens or given the range of wide acres, he neither 
frets nor pines. He grows the best he can, increases 
his size as rapidly as his food supply admits, and in- 
variably pays his way. As a consumer of food he 
eats greedily and heartily, but the account he fur- 
nishes is honest. He is waste- 
ful of what he eats only when 
he is denied what he wants and 
in generous quantities ; but, fed 
abundantly, he grows fat, ma- 
tures rapidly, and manufac- 
tures meat and lard economi- 
cally. 

The fact is, when compared ''''^M^'i* ".^t 

with other meat producers, the 
hog consumes less food for 

what he gives than any other meat-making animal. He 
works faster. It is due in part to his digestive appa- 
ratus, to the kind of food he relishes, and to the fact 
that he uses less food than the other animals for 
work and body heat. On the basis of i,ooo pounds 
live weight the hog uses about 275 pounds of dry 
food to 160 for the sheep and 125 for steers a week. 
Of this he will digest 230 pounds, while the sheep 
will digest but 120 pounds and the steer but 88 
pounds. 

To produce 100 pounds of increase the steer will 
consume 1,100 pounds of dry food, the sheep 910 and 
the hog 420. The increase in live weight for food 
consumed, on the basis of one point for steers, will 
be 1.5 for sheep and 5.8 for hogs. From this it is 



244 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

clear that in proportion to its weight the sheep eats 
more food than the steer and yields a greater in- 
crease in consequence ; but the pig, by eating more 
heartily, consumes more food and yields more meat 
or increase than either. 

Fastest Gains Are Made During Early Growth. — 
It used to be that hogs were kept as stockers on 
grass until they had reached a year or two in age, 
and then be fed until they weighed from 300 to 500 
pounds. AVhen slaughtered or sold they, of course, 




They Ate Much and Developed Rapidly 

The hog consumes less dry food to produce a given increase than either 
the sheep or the steer. He is therefore our best meat maker. 

showed great returns, but the cost of bringing up to 
such weights was not considered. AMien put to the 
test it was soon realized that while such hogs in the 
feed lot would take on a large increase, the cost of 
the increase was far above the returns in money. 
In other words, large hogs will steadily take on in- 
crease, but they do so only with great consumption 
of food. 



FEEDING SWINE 245 

A pig of proper age and weighing under loo 
pounds will require less than 300 pounds of feed 
to yield 100 pounds of increase, while a mature hog 
weighing 300 pounds will demand over 500 pounds 
of feed to yield 100 pounds of increase. There is, 
therefore, a decided economy in feeding hogs only 
up to a certain point. This point ranges from 175 
to 250 pounds, depending on circumstances — the 
market price of hogs, and the sale value of feed. 
In these days few hogs are fattened by feeders until 
they attain a weight of 400 or 500 pounds. If they 
were, every pound of gain would cost twice as much 
as it would fetch in the market. 

Rations Are Narrow at First. — The first food of 
the pig is milk; and milk is a narrow ration. Soon 
after birth additional food is demanded that will ad- 
mit the gradual introduction of the carbohydrate 
ingredients. Middlings, shelled corn, or corn meal 
may each be profitably used. If skim milk is avail- 
able, it will supply abundant protein, but corn meal, 
middlings or shorts should be added also. This 
combination is easily furnished as a slop, which 
may be continued even until the beginning of the 
fattening period. 

The young pigs, during their suckling days, will 
do best if fed additional slop in a separate pen and 
away from the mother and the larger pigs. Runs 
in which are grown green grasses, the clovers and 
other forage crops are indispensable if pork is to be 
made at profitable returns. Provided for in this 
manner, the pigs will widen their ration in accord- 
ance with their needs. 



246 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

The ration, which at first was very narrow, will 
now widen until spread to one part of protein to five 
or six parts of carbohydrates and fat. When the 
finish of the fattening period has been reached the 
ration will be near one of protein to eight or nine of 
the heat and fat-producing ingredients. 

The great fattening food is corn: its nutritive 
ratio is one to nine plus. Thus the food changes in 




Very Sanitary and Very Costly 

A hog barn of this order is the exception and not the rule. It is sanitary 
throughout, admits of easy feeding, and is easily cleaned. 

character from milk to corn or other similar foods, 
and the ration is gradually widened to meet the in- 
creasing requirements for fat production. 

Mineral Matter and Charcoal. — If the ration con- 
sists largely of corn, young hogs on pasture are not 
denied the necessary mineral elements to the extent 
that young pigs in the dry feed lot are. Pigs grow 



I 



FEEDING SWINE 247 

rapidly if fed well ; but if the food supply is deficient 
in the mineral elements, the lack is told in the ulti- 
mate results. 

Ground bone or bone meal can be introduced ad- 
vantageously into the ration either when the hogs 
are in the feed lot or on pasture. Soft coal, char- 
coal, and salt, either in mixture or given separately, 
should be kept before the animals at all times. 




Legume Pastures Ideal for Pigs 

For young growing pigs alfalfa, clover, or cowpeas are excellent forage 
crops. If one of these is not available, tender mixed grasses will serve. 
Corn or slop or both is advisable in addition to the green forage. 

Making a Slop. — When pigs are young, food in 
the form of a slop is most easily and safely fed. At 
first it should be quite thin. The nearer it ap- 
proaches the consistency of buttermilk the better 
for the pigs. As the pigs grow, it is a mistake to 
continue to feed a very thin slop. An oversupply of 
water in slop is harmful ; fat production is thereby 
retarded. Consequently, if the food is given in this 



248 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

way, the water is to be lessened as the animals in- 
crease in size. 

When a weight of 100 pounds or so has been 
attained, the pigs now being five or six months old, 
the slop should be so made as to have a consistency 
somewhat like mush. If the pigs demand more wa- 
ter than this food gives, let it be available as drink. 

Pasture for Pigs. — The great opportunity for 
making a profit out of pigs, especially when prices 
are low and grain products high, is to depend on the 
use of clover, cowpeas, soy beans, alfalfa and rape 
pastures. As the subject of pig feeding is studied, 
more conclusive becomes the evidence that pasture 
crops go hand in hand with pork production. It 
should be the swine raiser's aim as much to grow 
these forage crops as it is to grow the hog itself. 
Particularly is this true of the legume crops. Alfalfa 
naturally comes first because of its highly digestible 
nutrients, its vigorous growth and consequent 
heavy yields, its long cycle of life and its land-im- 
proving benefits. In time alfalfa will be commonly 
grown in all sections. 

Hogs may be turned into an alfalfa or a clover 
field early in the spring and kept there through the 
season until frost, provided the acreage is large in 
proportion to the number of animals. The tramping 
will not hurt the crop, and the grazing of the swine 
will not impair the feeding quality of the alfalfa 
when made into hay. 

When a large field is pastured a portion can be 
cut, to be followed a week or so later by another 
portion, and so until the field has been cut over. In 



FEEDING SWINE 



249 



this way there will be a new growth of alfalfa at all 
times, giving the pigs just the sort of pasture they 
desire. Alfalfa is rich in protein; hence the addition 
of corn to the ration while the animals are running 
on the pasture is advisable, especially if early matu- 
rity is sought. Young pigs on alfalfa, supplied with 
a light feeding of corn daily, within seven or eight 
months will weigh 250 pounds. 

Grazing Runs for Hogs. — Where large fields are 
not available, small runs may be resorted to. These 



/ 


^ 


^ 


RUN-WA}^ 


^ 


^ 


^ 




1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


MAY 


JUNE 


JULY 


AUG, 


SEPT. 


OCT. 


RYE & 
VETCH 


OATS & 
PEAS 


OATS & 
PEAS 


CORN & 
BEANS 


CORN & 
BEANS 


BARLEY 
& RAPE 


SEPT. 


OCT. 










CORN 


RAPE 










' PEN 












/ il 













Plan of Grazing Runs for Hogs 

The hogs are shifted each month to a fresh pasture in which one of the 
best crops of the season is available as food. 



solve the problem very satisfactorily on many farms. 
The small run lots may be of any size from a half 
acre to five acres. The number of hogs to be kept 
will govern both size and number of runs. An aver- 
age size is about an acre. One or two of these lots 
may be permanent pasture of either clover or blue 
grass, a temporary pasture of timothy and clover, 



250 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

or a permanent pasture of alfalfa. The other lots 
may be used in rotation. Several of them may be 
seeded to rye in the fall and as they are pastured off 
in turn during the winter and spring, they may be 
seeded with other forage plants. The one first 
grazed down may be plowed and seeded early to 
peas and oats, the next one to corn or sorghum or a 
mixture of the two, a third to cowpeas, and the 
others to soy beans, rape, peanuts and sweet potatoes. 

As each crop is pastured off, other summer crops 
may follow, thus giving a constant rotation of for- 
age, and all as preparatory to the final finishing 
period. Hogs that have been brought near to the 
finishing period with cowpeas, soy beans, peanuts 
and sweet potatoes, should be finished off with corn, 
since the flavor of the meat will be improved and 
the fat will be less soft than it otherwise might be. 

Forage for Cheap Gain. — Any growing crop is 
helpful in raising cheap pork. In sections where a 
temporary pasture like timothy and clover is the 
rule, spring pigs may be given the range of the 
fields. Thus they will gather a considerable portion 
of their food. They should not be denied, however, 
additional food in the way of slops or of dry grain. 
Corn, or corn and oil meal, or corn and tankage, may 
be used in combination to insure steady growth. 
Spring pigs thus raised by July will be of fair 
growth. From this time they should be pushed 
somewhat in order that they may be fat by late fall 
or early winter. 

The feeding of green corn on pasture is a com- 
mon practice and has much in its favor. Practically 



FEEDING SWINE 



251 



all of the plant but the coarse stalk is consumed. 
The kinds of forage cover a wide range. The fact 
is, anything green that is appetizing is good for 
hogs. 

Fattening Hogs. — The aim should be to get flesh 
growth rather than an overburden of fat. At the be- 
ginning of the fattening period hogs will eat 40 to 



^^^. '.-^^»r^-|-- 


v,3«^ 


r* 


T*-^p.^ 


«^ ^^^^B 




M 




^.^^^^B^^ri 




■ 


^ni^HI 


¥.iMiB|^^ 




m 


SHHHH 


■""M^^m 






^^^ 


^'i#j^^^H 


^8 


^ 


^Mk 



Enjoying the Charcoal Box 

One reason why thrift is frequently wanting is due to an insufficient 
supply of protein and the mineral elements in the hog ratL A charcoa 

m^au'-mSftheTitS^tiS!.!^^' ''^'^'''^ ^^'' ^^^'' ^^""^ ''-^' -'^ -'^ «^' 

50 pounds of dry matter per 100 pounds of live 
weight. This diminishes to 25 or 30 pounds as the 
fattening period advances. Hogs will get fat on 
corn. Their best development is obtained only when 
other feeds containing more protein are given. 
Tankage, peas, or beans are excellent. Use one part 
of either to eight or ten parts of corn at the begin- 
ning of the finishing period. 



252 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



The most intensive fattening is secured when 
easily digestible material is given. Corn is the uni- 
versal food and enters most largely into the grain 
combination. All other grain feeds are to be used 
as supplements and as balancing foods to corn. 
During the beginning period of fattening, when 
clover, alfalfa or other pasture is available, corn is 




Getting Their Rations in a Portable Pen 

The portable pen makes it possible to finish heavy hogs on clean feeding 
grounds. It is for outside feeding and should take the place of the sta- 
tionary, filthy feeding lot. 



the only grain necessary. Fattening hogs can be 
kept on such pastures almost up to the finish. 

Hogs Very Heavy with Fat should not be re- 
quired to roam about for food. Hence, during the 
final stage of fattening, the smaller the pasture or 
feed lot the less the loss because of this needless 
expenditure of energy. A great many of the most 
successful feeders take the fattening hogs from pas- 



I 



FEEDING SWINE 253 

ture to the feed lot. In most cases corn is the ex- 
clusive feed. Water should be at hand at all times 
or available at frequent intervals. Rations contain- 
ing one part of tankage or meat meal or soy bean 
meal to eight or ten parts of corn, unless corn is low 
in value, will produce a more rapid growth than corn 
alone. 

Making Good Bacon. — Feeding stuffs greatly in- 
fluence the quality of bacon. Oily grains have the 
strongest effect. To get good bacon, these oily 
grains should be reduced to a half or a third of the 
whole ration. Since corn is the principal food for 
both lard and bacon hogs, it may compose as much 
as 75 or 80 per cent of the ration. Middlings and 
tankage may be used for the balance. 

In Canada, where bacon is in much favor, barley 
is a common food- for hogs. It is fed both ground 
and soaked. Other foods used in combination with 
it are skim milk, peas, oats and middlings. If oats are 
used they should be crushed. The most profit from 
bacon is secured when clover, alfalfa, cowpeas, or 
rape are provided as forage. 

HOGGING OFF CORN 

Hogs as Harvesters. — The practice of getting fall 
hogs ready for market by turning them into the 
cornfield while the corn is still green is not new, 
but is a method not generally followed. There is 
a feeling that hogging off is wasteful and poor 
economy of labor and effort. The facts clearly indi- 
cate that the custom economizes labor and expense 



254 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

and the hogs do better than by some other methods. 
That is the point : you get the most pork at the least 
expenditure of money. 

Not only do hogs produce more with less grain 
in hogging off, but they actually mature in less 
time than when pen fed. It is not unusual to save 
at least a quarter of the fattening period where this 
method is followed. It is just as easy to prepare 




Hogging Off the Corn 

Hogs are here harvesting the corn crop. They not only eat all of the 
ears, but consume the greater part of the stalks. When the fat hogs are 
removed brood sows and pigs should be turned into the field to clean up. 

land for a subsequent crop after a corn crop has been 
harvested by hogs as when the corn has been re- 
moved in the ordinary way. The hogs waste no 
more grain by hogging off than is lost by ordinary 
husking. Hogs pick just about as clean as buskers. 
The labor item is not inconsiderable, either. A 
five to ten-acre field of good corn will carry 50 to 75 
hogs from the shote to the finished period. Of course 



I 



FEEDING SWINE 255 

the nature of the corn — whether the crop is heavy 
or light — will govern the number of hogs that can be 
fed in this way, but the total quantity of pork pro- 
duced from a given acreage when hogged off will be 
greater than when husked ears or snapped corn is 
fed in pens. 

Young Hogs, Weighing 80 to 125 Pounds, will 
do best in the green cornfield. At this size they 
possess good frames, are mature enough, and carry 
enough flesh to fatten in a few weeks and be ready 
for market. Of course, brood sows will make good 
use of green corn also. When thin from suckling 
pigs, or for any cause they are unthrifty, they will 
quickly flesh up and improve and be ready for mar- 
ket in from 30 to 50 days. 

While corn may be hogged off at any period, it is 
best to let it mature somewhat. Then you get all 
there is in the crop. If the ordinary summer pas- 
ture is short, give some additional feed like shorts 
and middlings in slop to tide along until the corn 
is fairly well developed. When it has passed the 
milk stage, and is somewhat dented, the hogs may 
be turned into the field. 

The entire field is usually given over to the hogs, 
when labor is high, the soil not wet, and the herd 
and the field not large in size. Use old hogs, stock 
hogs and brood sows for cleaning up after the fat- 
tening bunch has been taken away. Not much will 
be left, of course, but still some ; if this were not 
so, the fattening hogs would have been fed rather 
unwisely for the last week or two. 



256 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

SOME SAMPLE RATIONS 

For Young Pigs. 

When weaned and eight to ten weeks old: 

1. Skim milk, crushed corn and middlings in equal 

parts by weight. 

2. Thin slop of about the consistency of butter- 

milk, consisting of such ground grain feeds 
as are available. Use corn meal, ground oats, 
middlings, oil meal, etc. As the pigs grow 
older, gradually thicken the slop. When they 
are six or eight months old the slop should be 
like a thick mush. 

3. Pigs in Dry Lot. — If milk is available, give i 

part of corn to 3 parts skim milk ; if not, then 
6 parts corn, 3 parts middlings and i part 
tankage. 

For Pigs Three to Six Months of Age. 

Daily feed on basis of 100 pounds of live weight : 

At three months : 3 pounds of corn meal ; i pound 
of soy bean meal or 2 pounds of middlings ; 5 
pounds of skim milk ; 7 pounds of water. 

At four months: 4 pounds of corn meal; 0.8 
pound of soy bean meal or i pound of mid- 
dlings ; 5 pounds of skim milk; 6 pounds of 
water. 

At five months : 5 pounds of corn meal ; 0.5 
pound of soy bean meal or 0.75 pound of 
middlings; 5 pounds of skim milk; 3 pounds 
of water. 



FEEDING SWINE 



257 



At six months : 4 pounds of corn meal ; 0.4 pound 
of soy bean meal or 0.5 pound of middlings; 
5 pounds of skim milk; 2 pounds of water. 

Pigs on Pasture. — When pigs are allowed the run 
of a clover, cowpea or alfalfa pasture and weigh from 
roo to 150 pounds, rapid gains will follow if a mix- 
ture consisting of 10 parts corn, 5 parts middlings 
and I part tankage be fed. If corn is low in price 
use 15 parts of corn to i part tankage or 2 parts oil 
meal. 

Fattening Hogs in Dry Lot. — At the beginning of 
the fattening period give 6 parts corn and 3 parts 
middlings or i part tankage. When hogs have 
reached a weight of 180 to 200 pounds, give 8 parts 
corn, and i part tankage or other food of a protein 
nature. 



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CHAPTER XXI 
FEEDING FARM POULTRY 

Farm poultry is now a home necessity in every 
community. A few years ago the domestic hen was 
compelled to shift about and to get her food as best 
she could. Times have brought a change in this 
respect. The demand for eggs and poultry meat has 
been so great and so insistent as to make poultry 
raising one of the most profitable adjuncts to farm- 
ing. On many farms, farm poultry now is exclu- 
sively the source of income, and all labor and crop 
production are directed to that end. 

All fowls are greedy feeders. While they use 
food substances similar in form to what other classes 
of farm stock require, their food should be intro- 
duced in somewhat different ways. Rapid growth 
calls for much concentrated food; and where egg 
production is the aim, concentrated grain is de- 
manded at all times. There is a need of much min- 
eral matter for both growth and eggs. In a compar- 
ative way poultry calls for more of this than other 
kinds of live stock. There is less fat and more pro- 
tein in poultry than in other meat-producing ani- 
mals. In composition, eggs are similar to lean 
meat ; hence, in feeding for eggs, a comparatively 
large amount of nitrogenous material should be 
available as food. 

Eggs Chemically Analyzed. — The egg that the 
iovA produces is, next to milk, man's best food, the 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



259 



most strengthening, the purest, the most unadulter- 
able, the most healthful for young and old. An- 
alyzed chemically, the white of an egg contains 85 
per cent of water, the yolk 51 per cent of water and 
31 per cent of fat. The shell is composed of phos- 
phoric acid, lime, iron, sulphur and gluten. 




Business Flock of Light Brahma 

These fowls, while the heavyweights of poultry varieties, require extra 
food because they are rather poor foragers. Hoppers of food should always 
be within reach. 



Various Rations Required. — A variety of food- 
stuffs is to be preferred in feeding poultry, young 
or old. In many instances, single foods are given, 
])Ut these cases usually apply to free range condi- 
tions when grass, seeds, insects and worms are 
picked up. If the entire country is taken into con- 
sideration, no doubt more farm fowls are fed on corn 
than on any other single foodstuff. On most farms 
there are certain by-products and damaged food, 



26o 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



like shrunken wheat grains and wheat screenings, 
that are set aside for the poultry, but as a general 
rule corn is the principal food, especially in the 
winter. Often wheat bran is given as a wet mash. 
Perhaps the grain that comes nearest meeting the 
requirement of a single food is wheat. On account 
of its commercial value, however, it is used spar- 
ingly, in combination with other food materials, or 

not at all. 

By means of variety a bet- 
ter balanced ration can be 
had than otherwise. Both 
poultry flesh and eggs are 
to be ranked with the lean 
meat products. While excel- 
lent results often come from 
the use of corn or from 
rations largely containing 
corn and other carbonaceous 
feeds, generally speaking, 
other products like wheat, 
bran, meat, oats, skim milk 
and green food are now 
accepted as poultry feeds, of 
the first class and are always desirable, especially for 
egg production in the winter season. 

Feed for Little Chicks. — Perhaps there is no best 
way of feeding little chicks just out of the shell and 
for some time thereafter. Many plans are followed 
and all bring success, other conditions being satis- 
factory. Cooked and uncooked feed, baked and raw 
feed, wet and dry mashes are all used. So, too, are 




Green Feed 

Rape, cabbage, mangels, 
etc., are necessary for fowls 
confined, and during winter. 
Fastening up as here shown 
is the best way to feed green 
stuff. 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



261 



many kinds and classes of food products selected. 
It largely depends on the conveniences available, 
the equipment and on the taste and peculiarities of 
the attendant. 

It is more risky to feed moist or wet products 
than dry or crumbly dry ones to young chicks, because 
of possible digestive disturbances. For this reason dry 







Combination Hopper for Field or Yard Use 

Beneath the hinged roof are compartments for various grains, grit, shell, 
charcoal, etc. Enough feed is put in these bins to last for several days. 



cracked grain is generally preferred, even though wet 
mashes are introduced into the feeding plan at a later 
period. One method is to feed corn bread finely 
crumbed, five times a day, for the first few days. The 
bread is made of four parts of coarse corn meal to two 
parts of wheat bran, mixed with water, or milk, and 
baked brown. After the use of this for a week, 
a mixture of finely cracked and small grains is kept 



262 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

in shallow troughs where the chicks can help them- 
selves. In addition to this ration sweet milk is fed 
every day when available. Green food should be 
furnished fresh. Lettuce leaves are excellent for 
young chicks. If allowed a grass run the lettuce is 
not needed, but skim milk is desirable. 

Another plan is this : When the young chicks are 
48 to 60 hours old they are fed hard-boiled eggs. 
They should be fed frequently in very small 
amounts. The eggs may be some of those tested out 
from the incubator or eggs otherwise unfit for use 
in the kitchen. Following this ration, place before 
the chicks in shallow pans a dry mash consisting 
of two pounds of corn meal, two pounds of shorts, 
two pounds of bran, two pounds of beef scrap and a 
half pound of charcoal. This ration may be fed un- 
til the chicks are of considerable size. The ration 
is now changed to two pounds each of millet, sifted 
cracked corn, cracked sorghum seed and cracked 
wheat. Of course, fresh water and clean grit should 
be before the chicks at all times. AVhen they are 
large enough to eat whole grain, the cracked ma- 
terials should be withdrawn. Chicks that are very 
early hatched, and those that have grown rapidly till 
midsummer should not have much beef scrap. If 
the young chicks are hatched very early, or if they 
mature unusually early, they may molt the first sea- 
son. Both should be prevented, the latter by 
cautious feeding. 

Commercial feeds for young chicks consist of 
various mixtures containing small grain, cracked 
corn, wheat, oats, millet, hemp, etc. The}^ are not 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



263 



different from what any poultry raiser himself can 
prepare at a cost considerably under what the retail 
merchant sells them for. 

Weaned Chicks on Good Range may be fed a 
mash in the morning, with cracked corn, or other 
grain, or mixture of grains, scattered broadcast over 
the range, and the mash again in the evening. The 
mixture scattered over the range should be a day's 
allowance. Young chickens on good range are often 




Leghorn Flock at Range 

Nothing is better for poultry, especially layers, than free range on clover 
or alfalfa. The fowls not only get exercise, but gather a large quantity 
of protein in highly available form. 



fed the table scraps mixed with corn meal, shorts 
and bran. These are served in equal parts, once a 
day. Cracked corn is kept in troughs or hoppers at 
all times. 

A ration recommended by the Maine station for 
young chickens in brooders is as follows : Boil the 
infertile eggs for a half hour; grind, shell and all, 
in a meat chopper, and mix with rolled oats, six 
times the bulk of the eggs ; feed with chick grit on 



264 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

the brooder floor. If eggs are not available, beef 
scrap may be substituted and a ration consisting of 
the following given : Rolled oats, bran, corn meal, lin- 
seed meal, two parts each, and beef scrap, one part. 
After three days the following mixture is substituted : 
Cracked wheat, 15 parts ; pin head oatmeal, 10 parts ; 
cracked corn, 15 parts; cracked peas, three parts; 
broken rice, two parts ; chicken grit, five parts ; line 
charcoal, two parts. No wet mash is given these 
chicks until three weeks old. After that age they 
are given wheat grain, two parts ; corn meal, four 
parts; middlings, two parts; linseed meal, one part; 
beef scrap two parts. This mixture is slightly mois- 
tened with water and fed in troughs. 

When chicks are five or six weeks old cracked 
grain may be omitted and wheat and fine cracked 
corn scattered in the litter. 

Feeding Larger Chicks. — After chicks are five or 
six weeks old, the period of greatest danger is past, 
so far as the feed is concerned. They may now be fed 
less frequently and a greater variety of food may 
be given. A good mash is provided in ground corn, 
oats and bran, with a little salt. This should be fed 
once a day. Twice a week meat scraps or blood meal 
should be introduced into this mash. A small 
amount of bone meal or bone dust will not be out of 
place if fed daily. 

Animal protein and bone material are both fre- 
quently denied on the farm ; but this is due more to 
a lack of these materials as feed and knowledge 
of their need than either to carelessness or deliber- 
ate refusal. As the requirements of poultry feed- 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



265 



ing are better understood this apparent neglect will 
be rectified. Young chicks, like other young ani- 
mals, require much protein for muscles and feathers 
and much mineral matter for bone. Lime, while not 
necessary in such large quantities as for laying hens, 
should nevertheless be included in the ration. 




Crate Feeding for Fancy Market 

A rather sloppy mash of milk and mixed meal, principally oats, is given 
the fowls two to four times daily for ten days or two weeks before killing. 
As the fowls have no exercise during this time they increase in weight and 
their flesh improves in quality. 



Ground oyster shell is all that is needed. Charcoal 
should be kept before the young fowls. It is an 
inexpensive corrective, even if purchased, but usu- 
ally it is available on the farm. 

Fattening the Cockerels. — On most farms the 
cockerels are given the range of the field and are not 



266 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



if 


m 


W 


B 


^ 




m 


lil 


pli 


a > 



Protected Feed Trough 

Found useful where young 
and old fowls must run together. 
The openings between slats are 
too narrow for full-grown fowls 
to pass through. 



disposed of until late in the fall. Circumstances will 
govern as to what is best to do with them. Ordina- 
rily it is less profitable to allow them to run at large 
than to confine them. On many farms the cockerels 

are separated from the 
rest of the flock when 
they have reached an age 
of five or six weeks and 
fed so as to reach an early 
market. 

Range chickens will eat 
a great deal of food, more 
than is generally sup- 
posed; and they use up a good deal of their muscle 
and flesh as they wander about. Where but few 
chickens are raised and these only for home use, this 
is a matter of small consequence; but if the cock- 
erels are to be sold it is 
best to get them ready for 
market as early as possi- 
ble and not to permit 
them to ''run their flesh 
ofif" in seeking their food. 
A good fattening ration 
consists of corn for 
grain and corn meal, bran 
and ground oats for mash. 
In preparing the mash, 
make it moist with skim 

milk if available. In case skim milk is not to be had, 
use meat scraps two or three times a week. Give at a 
feed about all the fowls will eat up clean, three times 




Feed Hoppers Filled from Alley 

For convenience this plan is 
admirable. The hoppers dis- 
charge into the pens, but are 
filled from outside. 



I 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 267 

daily. Grit and water are both indispensable, and 
some green food for variety will not be out of place. 

Grain Feed for Fowls. — For growing chicks and 
fattening fowls the grain should be ground. Opin- 
ions differ as to the necessity of grinding grains for 
egg production. Corn is the standard grain for 
chickens. The eggs resulting when it is largely used 
in the ration are of good quality, and the yolk is 
rich and of a strong yellow. Corn is also usually 
the cheapest grain. On account of its carbonaceous 
nature it is not a good food as an exclusive grain, 
either in fattening or in egg production. Buckwheat 
is very highly prized as a food for layers. It may 
be fed whole or ground. Kafir corn has been most 
satisfactory when fed whole. It ranks about with 
corn, which it resembles in composition. 

For young chicks good poultrymen approve of 
rolled oats, but whole oats are not greatly relished 
by any class of poultry stock. If ground, they give 
good results in mashes wet or dry. Barley is liked 
by hens, and is superior to oats because of the 
smaller quantity of hull. Whole wheat or wheat 
screenings make an ideal ration for hens. Wheat is 
liked next to corn by poultry. It can be fed for 
indefinite periods without injury to the fowls. This 
is true also of wheat screenings. 

The oil meals, on account of their concentrated 
nature, must be fed sparingly. These include the 
glutens, linseed oil meal and cottonseed meal. Lin- 
seed meal has been more generally fed than the 
others. There is not the demand for these meals 
in poultry feeding that there is for other stock, since 



268 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

meat scrap is available and this takes their place 
to a great extent. Many other grains are fed to 
poultry with good success. It is not so much the 
kind of grain as the availability. Local grains and 
feeding stuffs share with the standard ones in all 
sections both in efficiency and popularity. 

Green Feeds. — Lack of green food invariably af- 
fects tgg production unfavorably. When flocks 




The Double-Yarding System 

While the flock runs in one yard, rye, turnips, rape, or other green stuff 
is grown in the other, both to sweeten the ground and to supply forage 
for the fowls. 



are at range they secure abundance, but flocks 
in yards and in winter quarters must be supplied. 
Green food may be fed at all times without stint. 
Among the best feeds are clover, alfalfa, grass, 
vetches, rape, rye, mangels, kale, cabbages, sugar 
beets, and turnips. 

During the winter cabbage is especially useful. 
Root crops are good also. The leaves and broken 
heads from the hay mow may be steamed if de- 
sired. Kale and alfalfa contain large amounts of 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



269 



protein and ash, the latter and clover giving quality 
to the eggs. Sprouted oats fed during the winter 
time have brought favorable results, but are more 
costly than other green feeds mentioned. They are 
fed two or three times weekly, or more often. A 
warm room, sunshine and close attention are neces- 
sary if they are to be grown in amounts called for 
to supply succulence and green feed. 




Interior of Well-Arranged Poultry Pen 

Note trap nests beneath roosts on left, cock or broody hen coop in 
corner, feed hoppers on the wall, open front at right and cloth screen for 
window pulled up to ceiling. 



During the growing season, if hens are kept in- 
closed, either runs should be provided where they 
can obtain the green food, or the green food should 
be daily given, just as it would be given live stock 
when the soiling system is practiced. While alfalfa 
and clover meals are excellent for hens, they are not 
complete substitutes for green products. Both are 
rich in protein, and are therefore valuable foods; 



270 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

they cost a good deal more than the green products, 
and are not real substitutes. For winter feeding, 
especially for high-priced eggs, they can be intro- 
duced into the ration, provided their cost is not too 
great. Where grains and meals are extensively used 
in winter, even though the eggs bring high prices, 
the cost of production may not meet the labor items, 
and hence may overbalance all the profit. 

Meat or Animal Feed Important. — Animal food 
of some sort is believed to be necessary to maintain 
fowls in vigorous health and productivity, whether, 
the aim be flesh or eggs. Probably no one thing has 
done more to increase profits than feeding animal 
food. Scarcity of eggs during the winter is largely 
due to deficiency in this line. Chickens when at lib- 
erty during the summer secure abundant animal 
food in the form of bugs and worms. Something to 
take the place of this food is necessary, especially 
when the snow is on the ground. Fresh meat scrap 
from the butcher shop is an excellent egg maker. 

On many farms bone cutters are run by hand or 
power, depending on the number of chickens kept, 
and fresh meat and bone are given the poultry at 
regular intervals. Bone is eaten just as greedily as 
the scraps of meat. The call for mineral matter is 
met to some extent in the bone supply. Doubtless 
the most convenient form in which to feed animal 
food is beef scrap or meat scrap, a boiled and dried 
by-product of the large packing houses. As it 
reaches the poultryman it contains meat and bone in 
varying proportions, which should analyze 50 to 60 
per cent protein. It also varies in quality, but 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



271 



should be light colored always, have a meaty flavor, 
and be rather oily to the touch. When boiling water 
is added to it, it should smell like fresh meat. If a 
putrid odor is given off it should not be fed. 

Grit Is Necessary. — At all times chickens need 
grit, regardless of its function — whether it grinds 
the food or in itself is food, it matters not. The fact 
is, grit is absolutely essential, and 
fowls are in search of it at all times 
if not otherwise provided. Re- 
peated tests have been made with 
and without its use in the ration 
and all have shown conclusively 
that it is indispensable to the health 
of the fowls and to egg production. 
When gravel is close by the grit 
question is easily answered. If the 
gravel is scarce some kind of grit 
must be provided. 

Besides ordinary grit, it is desir- 
able to supply other material for 
making the egg shell. Grain does 
not contain sufficient lime for great 
egg layers. Oyster and other sea shells are largely used 
for this purpose, since they are very readily dissolved 
in the gizzard. Lack of lime or other shell material in 
the ration often leads to the egg-eating habit among 
hens. Charcoal is useful as a bowel regulator. The 
most successful poultrymen keep it constantly be- 
fore the hens. Salt in moderation aids digestion. An 
ounce or two daily is sufficient for 100 hens. 

Hens in Summer. — If the hens have the run of the 




Feed Hopper 

For grain, grit, 

shell, charcoal, etc., 

this is a popular pat- 
tern. 




272 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



273 



farm, the problem of feeding is simple. In pasture 
fields and meadows they will secure insects, seeds 
and grass, supplying in this way what they need 
for maintenance and eggs. Some grain, however, 
should be fed daily. This may be a variety, or one 
or more common grains like corn, wheat, sorghum 
or millet. A mash feed two or three times a week, 
with salt added, is greatly relished. If skim milk 
or buttermilk is available, let it be kept before the 




Open Feed Trough for Fowls at Range 

The ordinary V-shaped trough is popular especially for feeding wet mashes. 
Objection to it is that the fowls soil it easily. 



fowls, but see that the vessels are clean and sweet. 
A few drops of carbolic acid or any of the coal tar 
dips in the milk and water will assist in keeping 
things pure and wholesome. 

During the Molt. — One of the most critical 
periods in the life of the hen is during the molting 
period. At this time nutritious and wholesome 
foods are advisable — those rich in protein — in order 
that a supply of substances may be at hand for the 
new feathers. Wheat, oats, peas and sunflo^wer are 




274 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

all excellent. Some oil meal in the mash, with bran, 
should be fed daily. Many poultrymen who feed 
cracklings at this period hold that these and oil meal 
are two indispensable food products for success with 
hens during the molting season. 

While good layers usually lay more or less dur- 
ing the early stages of the molt, they usually stop 
when the new feathers are forming rapidly. At- 
tempts have been made to hasten molting, and suc- 
cess has been obtained, but the advantages have not. 
been particularly manifest. If the hens are starved 
for a period and then heavily fed, the shedding of 
the old feathers and starting of the new will be ap- 
parent; but little effect seems to follow in way of 
increased tgg production. The best way seems to 
be in heavy feeding; in providing an abundance of 
food of the nature that builds flesh, feathers and 
eggs. 

Feeding for Eggs in Winter. — The reason that the 
hens do not lay in winter, is not because they are 
underfed, but because they are too fat. Hens are 
like other animals. Feed them abundantly, put 
them under conditions where exercise is not taken 
and they will become fat and lazy. Moreover, the 
ovules of the hen become inactive and Ggg produc- 
tion is an impossibility. It is this way : During the 
summer and the fall months the hens range in all 
directions over the farm in search of food, appetizing 
grasses, tender insects and juicy berries of field and 
fence corners. This exercise on the fields puts them 
in excellent health and vigor. Then the farm crops 
are harvested and gathered. On most farms corn is 



FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



275 



gathered and stored; and in most instances it is 
cribbed where the hens can get at it. They greedily 
eat of this appetizing grain, and, easily obtainable, 
they forget their summer habits of thrift and search, 
and now seek the corn cribs for their daily supply. 
The result is inevitable ; they get fat and quit lay- 
ing. So long as corn remains they continue in their 
gluttoning and also fail to lay. Once in this condi- 




MiXED Flock Eating Grain 

Especially in winter the evening meal usually consists of grain, because 
it requires longer to digest than m?sh. Thus the fowls are believed to be 
more comfortable during the night than when their stomachs become empty. 



tion their usefulness as layers has passed, and the 
sooner they are eaten or sent to market the better. 
The average farmer needs to correct this error in 
order to put things in the way for more eggs during 
winter. This, however, will not suffice. Green food, 
a variety of grains, and meat scraps are needed to 
supply the egg-producing materials, that the hens 
may do their best. See that the hens take exercise 



276 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

during winter. Provide a scratching pen. Keep 
this in a deep litter of cut or fine straw, both dry 
and clean, and scatter the grains in it. The hens 
will have to work to eat; and by thus exercising, 
they will not grow fat; and if not fat but active and 
vigorous, they will naturally lay eggs. 

Tried Ration for Laying Hens. — The Cornell sta- 
tion has tested many combinations in search of the 
best grain mixtures for the Avinter production of 
eggs. As a result of these feeding tests the follow- 
ing ration has been suggested : For grain, mix 100 
pounds of wheat, 100 pounds of cracked corn and 50 
pounds of oats and feed in deep litter sparingly in 
the morning and freely at night. Mash fed in the 
afternoon in hoppers consists of the following : 60 
pounds of wheat middlings, 60 pounds of corn meal, 
50 pounds of beef scrap, 30 pounds of wheat bran, 
10 pounds of alfalfa meal, 10 pounds of linseed oil 
meal and a half pound of salt. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE SILO AND SILAGE 

The silo does for live stock what fruit cans and 
fruit jars do for man. We know that a tomato will 
quickly decay if not put in the fruit jar where it can 
be sealed so as to prevent the entrance of bacteria. 




Neat Silo for Long Service 

The silo is a large pit that holds cut-up corn or other 
forage, keeps it succulent and prevents the maturity 
of the plant cells. 

The object of the silo is to keep the forage as near 
the green state as possible. To this fact is due the 
noted value of silage. As we, during winter, would 

277 



278 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

rather eat an apple that has been stored away in the 
cellar than a dried one, so live stock relish, in the 
same degree, the corn plant if kept as nearly in the 
green state as possible. No matter how nutritious 
a feeding stuff may be, if the animal does not like it, 
it usually is a failure as a milk or a meat producer. 
Of course, no one claims that silage contains greater 
feeding value than the cured product. A silo has 
nothing about it to make more protein or carbohy- 
drates or fat. But it retains the juice, the flavor, and 
also the effect of freshness and greenness in the 
silage properly stored in it. 

Economy in Silage. — There is a great economy in 
silage, in the fact that a larger part of the product 
is eaten than if the green stuff were dried for fodder. 
If the dry corn plant is fed, the ear and the leaves 
are the only parts consumed. Fully half the feed- 
ing value is lost. If, however, this be put in the silo, 
every particle is eaten. The feeding value is really 
doubled. The silo, then, assists the feeder in tak- 
ing care of a larger number of animals from a given 
area than otherwise would be possible if only the 
dry product were fed. 

Another point in economy lies in the storage of 
the feeding stuff. A silo is cheaply constructed and 
holds an immense quantity of forage that is always 
at hand where feeding is to be done. Thus the labor 
for winter feeding is materially lessened. Wherever 
high-class beef animals are raised or profitable dairy- 
ing carried on, there the silo is found and its highest 
and best uses employed. 

Capacity of Silos. — The following table, by King, 



THE SILO AND SILAGE 



279 



gives the capacity of round silos at various depths 
and with varying inside diameters : 





Inside diameter in feet 


Feet depth 












15 


18 


20 


25 




Tons 


Tons 


Tons 


Tons 


20 


58.8 


84.7 


104.6 


163.4 


21 


62.9 


90.6 


111.8 


174.7 


22 


67.4 


96.8 


119.6 


186.8 


23 


71.7 


103.3 


127.5 


199.3 


24 


76.1 


109.6 


135.3 


211.5 


25 


80.6 


116.1 


143.3 


223.9 


26 


85.5 


123.0 


151.9 


237.4 


27 


90.2 


129.8 


159.3 


250.5 


28 


95.0 


136.8 


168.9 


263.9 


29 


99.9 


. 143.9 


177.6 


277.6 


30 


105.0 


151.1 


186.6 


291.6 


31 


109.8 


158.2 


195.6 


305.1 


32 


115.1 


165.7 


204.6 


319.6 



Corn the Best Silage Crop. — Silage is pre-emi- 
nently adapted to dairy cows, and is frequently used 
for sheep and other farm animals. In planning a 
silo, figure on removing at least i>^ inches of the 
silage surface each day in order to prevent loss from 
spoiling. From 30 to 40 pounds of silage a day, 
combined with hay and grain, is considered by most 
dairymen as a satisfactory ration for dairy cows. 

Essentials of a Good Silo. — First, it must be made 
deep in order that the silage may pack down solidly. 
There should be a depth of at least 24 feet. Satis- 
factory silos, however, may be built with a depth 
of only 20 feet, or even less. Second, the walls 
should be made vertical and perfectly smooth, so 
the silage may rest evenly on all sides. 

There should be as few corners as possible, since 



28o 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



the greatest loss occurs from spoiling in corners. 
Third, square, wooden silos should have the corners 
boarded across, and the inside sheathing should run 
perpendicular at the bottom. Fourth, the inside 
walls of stone, brick or cement silos should have a final 
dressing of portland cement. Fifth, the silo should be 
located where it will be most convenient to feed from. 







^- 



^^-'>^ 












;-^- 



Harvesting the Silage Corn 

Following the corn harvester come the wagons to haul the green corn to 
the cutters. 



Calculating Size of Silo. — The size of the silo to 
build may be determined in any particular case from 
the following data : A cubic foot of well-packed sil- 
age will weigh on the average between 35 and 40 
pounds. This is about the amount that should be 
fed daily to a dairy cow. If it is necessary to feed 
cows for six months, 180 days, one cow will con- 
sume 180 cubic feet, or about 3^ tons of silage. A 
herd of 10 cows would consume 35 tons. However, 
there is always some loss by spoiling and waste, so 
it is better to figure on about 40 tons. 



THE SILO AND SILAGE 28 1 

One acre of corn should yield lo to 15 tons of sil- 
age. The number of tons of silage that a square 
or a rectangular silo will hold may be determined 
roughly by multiplying the length, width and depth 
of the silo in feet, and dividing by 50, the approxi- 
mate number of cubic feet in a ton of silage. A 
round silo 15 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep will 
hold about 60 tons. The same silo 25 feet deep will 
hold 80 tons. A round silo 20 feet in diameter and 
25 feet deep will hold a little more than 140 tons. 

Filling the Silo. — Nowadays the corn binder is 
desirable for cutting silage corn. It saves the ex- 
pense of several men and makes loading and unload- 
ing more economical and less fatiguing and irksome 
than the old method. One man with a low wagon 
and a rack can in a few minutes secure his load, all 
that a two or a three-horse team can draw. It is 
most convenient to take two or three rows at a time. 
It is necessary, therefore, that the binder be at work 
for some time in order that the hauling and the 
cutting crews may not be delayed for want of corn. 

The work in the silo, however, is the most impor- 
tant of all operations connected with silage making. 
Really good silage depends largely upon the faith- 
fulness, constant tramping and the "everlastingly at 
it" of the man in the silo. Let him shirk, or do his 
work poorly, and he will get less corn in the silo and 
poorer quality in the product. Many of the criti- 
cisms directed against the silo belong, not to it, but 
to the man within. He was either lazy and irre- 
sponsible, did not know what was expected of him 
or how to do what was required of him. 



282 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

This part of silage making is of such great impor- 
tance that it is necessary to give it close attention. 
Thoroughly and continually to pack the silage as 
fast as it falls into the silo and to pitch and tramp 
it all about the outer edges is the secret of making 
good silage. Look after the packing well at the 
outside, and the center will take care of itself. It 
is this thorough packing that rids the silo of air spaces 
around which decay later is found to have taken place. 

It is more difficult to pack the square than the 
round silo. Hence the least carelessness here repre- 
sents some loss in winter. In doing effective pack- 
ing, keep the outer edges a little higher than the 
center, but keep tramping and packing all the time. 
This will force the air out as the filling process goes on. 

Feeding Silage. — The quantity of silage fed de- 
pends somewhat on the kind of forage used. Silage 
made of clover, cowpeas or alfalfa contains more 
protein than that made of corn. If either of the 
former be used, from 15 to 20 pounds will be suffi- 
cient for a daily feed. On the other hand, if corn 
is used, from 25 to 50 pounds can be fed, 30 to 40 
pounds being a good average. Silage can be fed 
once or twice each day. If a small quantity is used 
in the daily ration, the feeder should give silage but 
once ; a larger quantity will require two feedings. 
The feeding should be regular; that is, every day, 
so as to keep the top of the silo fed off to prevent 
spoiling. One or 2 inches from the whole of the 
top will prevent any decay. 

Feeding Silage After Milking. — Silage should not 
be fed during milking, but always afterward. When 



I 



THE SILO AND SILAGE 



283 



the cows have finished eating, the silage that re- 
mains should be cleaned up and removed from the 
barn. This will prevent the possibility of having 
silage decay in the mangers. The present objection 
to silage milk, as it is termed, comes from the sloven- 
liness of those who permit the silage to remain in 
the barn and decay. If cleanliness is observed, and 
the silage has been taken care of properly, the milk 
will be free from the silage taint. The odor of sil- 
age put up when the ears are in milk is much 
stronger than that of silage put up just after the 
ear has glazed and hardened. 

Crops for Silage. — There are only a few crops that 
can be successfully used for silage. The great silo 
crop is corn. Clover is also ensiled with a fair de- 
gree of success. Soy beans mixed with corn are 
also good, and alfalfa to some extent. Plants which 
have hollow stems generally make poor silage be- 
cause of the air stored with the crop. There is also 
little reason for using crops that are easily cured in 
the field, like the grasses and hays. 



DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS IN IMPORTANT SILAGE CROPS 





Dry matter 

in 
100 pounds 


Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds 


Feeding stuff 


Protein 

0.9 
2.0 
3.0 

1.5 

2.7 


Carbohydrates 


Fat 


Corn silage . . 

Clover 

Alfalfa ... . 

Cowpea 

Soy bean 


20.9 
28.0 
27.5 
20.7 
25.8 


11.3 
13.5 

8.5 

8.6 

- 8.7 


0.7 
1.0 
1.9 
0.9 
1.3 



284 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Cutting Corn for Silage. — The composition of 
corn undergoes rapid changes from the tasseling period 
until maturity. The dry matter shows an increase 
from the time the corn is in tassel until the kernels 
are dented. Tasseled corn has only one-fifth as 
much dry matter as mature corn. It is owing to 
such changes that corn must be cut at the proper 
stage if it is to make the best silage. If cut too 
green, the silage will sour more easily, and will not 
possess the fullest food value. Immature corn is 
often the cause of the complaints that silage makes 
undesirable milk. If cut too ripe, the desired succu- 
lence is lost. The proper stage for cutting is when 
the lower leaves have commenced to fire and brown, 
yet when the greater part of the leaves are still 
green. The kernels should be out of the milk stage 
and dented and hardened. 

Cost of Making Silage. — The following figures as 
to cost of making silage have been set forth by the 
Nebraska station : 

COST OF GROWING 

Rent of land $4.50 

Plowing- and harrowing 2.00 

Seed corn 0.25 

Planting 0.30 

Harrowing and cultivating 2.25 

Total per acre $9.30 

Average yield, tons an acre $13.00 

Cost per ton to grow 0.72 

COST OF FILLING SILO 

Eleven men at $2 a day $22.00 

Seven teams at $2.25 a day 16.75 

One traction engine a day 7.50 

Engineer 2.50 

Coal 3.00 

Board for men 6.00 

Total $56.75 

Silage cut per day, 75 tons; cost to put in silo 

per ton $0.75 



THE SILO AND SILAGE 285 



INTEREST AND DEPRECIATION 

Interest on money invested in silo $25.00 

Interest on money invested in macliinery 12.00 

Depreciation and repairs on silo and machinery per year 80.00 

Taxes and insurance 6.00 

Interest and depreciation per ton 0^48 

SUMMARY PER TON 

Cost of grrowing- $0 72 

Cost of putting in silo ." ' o]75 

Interest and depreciation . . . . 0.48 

Total cost of corn silage per ton $1.95 

BUILDING THE SILO 

Many Kinds of Material are available for con- 
struction, but more silos are built of wooden staves 
than of anything else. Wooden stave silos have the 
advantage of lower first cost, of being easily and 
quickly erected by the ordinary help available and 
of being taken down and moved if necessary. 

The round silo is practically the only style now 
erected, and is generally put up outside the barn, 
although in round barns it may well be built in the 
center. After much experimenting farmers and silo 
manufacturers have almost unanimously settled on 
the use of staves 2x6 inches in size, tongued, 
grooved and planed on one or both sides. If prop- 
erly taken care of the wooden stave silo, built of 
good material, will last a great many years. Should 
a weak stave develop, it is not a difficult or an ex- 
pensive matter to replace it. 

Get a Solid Foundation. — The success of any silo 
depends on a firm, solid foundation. For this pur- 
pose, concrete or concrete and stone are commonly 
used. The foundation needs to be so well built that 
it will neither crack nor settle. The silo also needs 



286 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



a roof which will help to strengthen it and to pro- 
tect the contents from storm and frost. 

Whether or not a man should get out his own ma- 
terial for a silo and build it for himself, or buy it of 
a silo manufacturer depends upon how good a me- 
chanic he is. A man who is not handy with tools 
will find it cheaper and better to buy a ready-made 




Filling the Silo 
Corn should be well matured before placed in the silo. 



go thorough tramping, 
nutritious. 



With this should 
The silage will then be sweet, substantial and 



silo, for he will then have one that is built in a scien- 
tific manner of good material. The work of erecting 
a wooden stave silo is not difficult if a good car- 
penter with a little ingenuity be employed. 

Other Types of Silos. — Concrete has been used to 
some extent for silo building, either in the form of 
blocks or to make solid monolithic walls. Concrete 



THE SILO AND SILAGE 



287 



silos cost more than stave silos, but are virtually in- 
destructible if built of good material under compe- 
tent supervision, and well reinforced. Many failures 
come from neglect of one or more of these points. 
Then the loss is practically total, as it is very diffi- 
cult to repair a cracked or a broken concrete struc- 
ture. 




Concrete Silos 

These are more costly than those made of wooden staves, but they practi- 
cally last forever. 



Brick has been used to some extent for silos, and 
with good success. Expert help is needed to erect 
them. Unless brick can be obtained at a low price, 
their cost is almost prohibitive. The first brick silos 
were put up of several thicknesses of brick, in some 
cases the walls being 20 inches thick, but of late 
years two courses of brick, well reinforced, have 
been found sufficient. 



288 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



Hollow Clay Blocks. — The latest development 
consists of the use of hollow clay building blocks. 
These are easily erected by an expert mason, and 
are successful if properly reinforced by wire be- 
tween the various courses of tile. Being built of hol- 
low tile, there is less freezing of the silage on the 
inside than where the walls are made of brick or 
solid concrete. The freezing, however, is generally 
of little importance. 

Not every farmer needs a silo, but every farmer 
who keeps a herd of six or more cows, dairy or beef, 
or 50 sheep, will find the silo a profitable addition to 
his farm equipment. More feed can be obtained 
from an acre of corn saved in the silo than in any 
other way. It is possible to make more and cheaper 
milk, beef and mutton by feeding silage than with- 
out it. 



I 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE SOILING SYSTEM 

Farm animals relish succulent feeds. They give 
the best account of themselves when abundantly 
supplied with pastures or roots or green crops. 
This is true, not only of cattle, but of hogs, sheep, 
swine and poultry. Animal life has been so long 
adjusted to succulence and vegetable juices that to 
withhold these for any length of time is to invite 
loss along all lines of production ; animals do not 
thrive well when these are withheld. 

When spring comes with its rejuvenating influ- 
ences manifested in all directions, farm stock eagerly 
leave dry foods, however rich in nutrition they may 
be, and revel in the green grasses along the roadside 
or in the pasture field. You are familiar with the 
result — better quality, more thrifty growth, more 
meat, more milk. 

Taking the year all around, good pastures are not 
available for any great length of time ; hence, where 
well-bred farm animals are appreciated, an impor- 
tant problem in farm management arises as to the 
best method of extending the pasture season as long 
as possible. Succulent foods may be provided by 
pasture, soiling crops, silage and root crops. They 
may be just a bit inferior to May and June grazing, 
but as substitutes they satisfactorily fill the bill. 
Good silage, after all, is but slightly inferior to green 



290 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



corn. Soiling crops are next best to grasses; and 
roots, for fall and winter, are not to be despised. 

Good Pastures Always Popular. — The testimony 
of dairymen is undeniably and emphatically in favor 
of silage, soiling crops and similar feeds to take 
the place of pasture, because they keep the milk 
yield constant. Some even claim that these feeds 
are in every way equal to rich pastures. Where 
lands are high in value and limited in quantity, soil- 





tMrn-^-^ 


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■"■■-"'■'■■'<*" 





Hauling Soiling Crops to the Barn 

Where the soiling system is followed cows are fed in their stalls. Less 
land is needed and no forage is destroyed by tramping. The labor on the 
other hand is increased. 

ing crops often displace the pasture system. Some 
who follow the practice claim that it is even more 
satisfactory and far less costly. Roots, even for the 
dairy, but especially for all breeding stock, are in- 
dispensable. Horses without carrots, sheep without 
turnips, Hamlet without the ghost! 



THE SOILING SYSTEM 29I 

Pastures will, no doubt, long remain important 
in all sections where live stock are grown. Though 
it is true that the pasture system calls for at least 
twice the number of acres that are necessary where 
the soiling system is followed, it must be remem- 
bered that with pastures, less labor is required, less 
attention is needed for looking after the stock, and 
the items of detail, incidental to soiling, do not 
arise. 

For these reasons permanent pastures are to be 
desired; in fact, they should be increased and made 
better. Where lands are exceptionally high in value, 
the reason for the soiling system becomes manifest 
at once ; but where lands are cheap, there is no rea- 
son why the pasture should not be employed in the 
cheap production of pork or beef, or why it should not 
enter very largely into the production of dairy products. 

Good permanent pastures are worthy of more 
attention than they have received. If they 
have not done their work well, it is because their 
owners have given them too little attention. To 
merit praise they must give much grazing and con- 
stant grazing. The temporary pasture occurs only 
as a feature of short rotations, as when grain crops 
are raised. It is really an incident rather than a 
first consideration ; being such, development of 
grass and turf, both of which are basic features of 
the permanent pasture, is not expected. 

Rape Supplements Pastures. — On the other hand, 
poor pasture fields may be supported by the use of 
supplementary crops, foremost among which is rape 
— an admirable food for sheep and swine and val- 



292 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



uable for cattle also. Rape is a sort of cabbage, 
which, instead of storing its nutriment in the head 
as the cabbage does, distributes its nutriment 
throughout the leaves. It fancies most the moist, 
cool places and a rather fertile soil. When so fav- 
ored it really gives a very large amount of food. It 
is sufficiently rich in nutriment to maintain all body 
needs, but is not quite able of itself to make large 
gains of growth or fat. When supplemented with 
grain, it becomes a very satisfactory green fodder crop. 




n /, 






Wheat a Good Soiling Crop 

The plot at the left made 4.6 tons to the acre. The plot at the right had been 
given an application of nitrate of soda and produced ly^ tons to the acre. 



Rape may be sown any time between March and 
July, either broadcast or in drills 3 feet apart, using 
three or four pounds of slightly covered seed an 
acre. When grazed down, remove the stock and 
allow time enough for a second crop. 

Soiling Crops in Favor. — Within recent years the 
use of soiling crops has increased. The unsatisfac- 
tory results from pastures during the late summer 



THE SOILING SYSTEM 



293 



months, especially for dairy cows, have given popu- 
larity to the soiling system. Employed in connec- 
tion with the silo, it is possible to get the effect of 
green crops throughout the year. 

Briefly, the plan means that instead of depending 
upon pastures, fodder is cut green and fed to cattle 




Alfalfa the Best Soiling Crop 

From early spring until frost this queen of the crops is available for all 
kinds of feed. 



in the feed lot or in the stable, thus doing away 
with fences and extensive areas, such as are neces- 
sary with pastures. There is a saving, because no 
part of the forage is tramped on or destroyed by 
animals running at large over the fields. The small 
area given to soiling crops allows more intensive 
tillage, better fertilizing and more thorough cultiva- 
tion than does the pasture system. The soiling sys- 
tem is favored because it is extremely valuable, 



294 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

even where pastures are much in use. Rye, peas, 
oats, and green corn always come in handy; and 
they often bridge over dry periods when pastures 
are either short or are dry and withered. 

Soiling Crops Have a Place. — Starting with soil- 
ing crops in order of their use, we have rye as the 
first aid. In the South it is ready in March and in 
the North in April. It should be seeded in August 
or September in the North, and in September or 
October in the South. When thus planted It is 
ready early in the spring, long before ordinary pastures 
are available, or before clover or wheat can be used. 

Alfalfa Ranks First. — Alfalfa is the premier soil- 
ing crop. After alfalfa come peas, sorghum, corn 
and other green crops. The oats and peas should 
go in early. Cover the peas 3 or 4 inches deep, one 
bushel to the acre ; the oats a less depth and about 
two bushels to the acre. Inasmuch as oats fancy 
the cool seasons rather than the warm weather, the 
earlier they are seeded in the spring, the better. 
Field peas also withstand a surprisingly large 
amount of cold weather. Cowpeas and sorghum are 
warm weather crops, and should go in after corn. 

Green Corn for Summer. — Corn is an all-farm- 
purpose crop. It is advisable to have a couple or 
more acres of corn as a reserve crop for late sum- 
mer feeding. Every animal on the farm relishes a 
few stalks of green corn at night or morning when 
the pastures are dry and hot. The soil for soiling 
corn should be light and warm to insure early plant- 
ing. After being well tilled and fertilized, put in the 
corn. Plant in rows 3^ to 4 feet apart, dropping 



THE SOILING SYSTEM 



295 



grains 3 or 4 Inches apart in the rows. Give this 
corn the same cultivation and care as later you will 
give to your regular crop. In any section, by the 




Barnyard Millet a Heavy Yielder 

The millets are all good forage crops, but Japanese barnyard millet is an ex- 
ceptionally profitable variety. The yield here is 15 tons to the acre. 

latter part of June or early in July you will have on 
hand a lot of green forage to help along in case your 
pastures go back on you. 



296 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

If this green fodder is not needed in early summer, 
just let it alone; it will continue its growing and 
will make a still heavier crop. With it at hand you 
need have no fear of a shrinkage in milk, because 
a few armfuls of this green corn as a feed, used as a 
supplement to the pasture or the silage or other 
food, will complete the ration and supply your stock 
with just what is needed. The patch of corn, its 
size depending upon the number of animals you 
have, will carry you until the silage crop is ready, 
or if you do not have the silo, carry you into the fall 
season, when your winter plans for feeding will 
handle the case. 

Root Crops Not to Be Left Out. — Roots receive 
too little attention by farmers, but they are worthy 
of some attention, for they stand high as succulent 
and supplementary feeds. Roots cannot be valued 
solely by the nutriment they contain. They aid in 
digestion and assimilation of dry foods and con- 
tribute to the healthfulness of all animals so fortu- 
nate as to get them. If fruits are of value, if not a 
necessity, to men, then roots and grasses have a 
place in feeding farm animals. 

Carrots may be fed to horses and sheep, sugar 
beets and turnips to dry cattle, lambs and dairy cat- 
tle; all three are relished by hogs. To withhold 
succulence. Nature's great provision of thrift and 
health, is to lessen profits. Ask the men who use 
these crops; the horse breeder where carrots are 
known ; the shepherd who knows his sheep and suc- 
ceeds with them ; the cattle breeder who has learned 
of the value of roots for health and appetite. The 



THE SOILING SYSTEM 297 

testimony as given is generally in favor of roots 
or of succulent substitutes. 

ADVANTAGES OF SOILING 

Smaller Area Needed. — Where pasturing is fol- 
lowed, from two to five acres are required for fur- 
nishing necessary feeding stuffs for each animal a 




Crop of Confpeas and Kafir Corn 

This combination makes a splendid soiling crop. The yield in this instance 
was 13 tons to the acre. 

year. It is generally conceded by all who have fol- 
lowed soiling that three-quarters to an acre and a 
half will furnish the yearly food supply for a mature 
animal. 

Fewer Fences Needed. — The only fences needed 
with soiling are for the feed lots. This is a saving of 
land where fences would be put, a saving of capital 
otherwise invested in fences, and a saving in labor 
in keeping fences clean and repaired. 



298 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

Food Destroyed by Tramping. — The tramp- 
ing of cattle over pasture lands not only destroys 
considerable food, but it compacts the soil, espe- 
cially during wet weather, and greatly damages the 
physical condition of the soil. As much as a third 
or a half of the pastures are injured by tramping. 

Less Acreage Required. — If one lives near a city 
where lands are highly valuable, the investment in 
acres is a matter of considerable importance. The 
practice of soiling enables the dairyman to do on 
half the number of acres what would be required if 
pasturing were followed. 

Soil Improvement More Readily Obtained. — 
Since one needs but half the area by following soil- 
ing methods that pasture systems require, a larger 
quantity of manure may be secured by this system. 
This means farming in an intensive way and insures 
greater productivity of land and larger crops with 
each successive year. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE PRACTICE OF 
SOILING 

The one objection to soiling is in the extra labor 
in growing and feeding the crops. By pasturing, 
labor is needed only in taking cattle to and from 
the pasture fields. The necessary extra labor con- 
nected with the soiling system is, however, a matter 
of small importance when considered in the light of 
the many advantages. 

Soiling Best Adapted to Dairying. — While soil- 
ing is possible for all classes of live stock, it is pecul- 



I 



THE SOILING SYSTEM 



299 



iarly a system for the dairy farmer. The food is bet- 
ter because of freshness and succulence; labor is 
always available; and the greater profits permit 
greater care and attention that the highest success 
may be attained. 



1 




■ 





Crimson Clover for Soiling 

This admirable crop is a great soil improver and winter cover crop. It 
matures early in the spring and may be pastured, cut for hay, or fed green 
in the stable. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR A SOILING SCHEME 

Among the best soiling crops the following may 
be mentioned: Peas and oats, rye, alfalfa, clover, 
vetch and wheat, soy beans, cowpeas, corn, millet, 
sorghum, and rape. On some farms green crops are 
fed throughout the season. In a general way the 
practice includes the rotation somewhat as follows, 



3O0 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

with substitutes in certain cases where the season 
has unfavorably influenced the usual order or makes 
possible the use of some local crop : 

a. Winter rye, or wheat, to be cut in May. 

b. Green alfalfa, to be used at any time. 

c. Green clover, cut and fed in June. 

d. Peas and oats, sown early in spring, with a 

succession at two or three intervals. 

e. Corn or sorghum, planted as early as possible, 

to be used during July and August. 

f. Millet, planted in June or early July and fed in 

August. 

g. The land from which the peas and oats and 

early corn are removed may be seeded to 

millet for August feeding. 
Some Special Rotations. — Following are given 
several rotations that have been in use in various 
sections : 



I 



THE SOILING SYSTEM 



301 



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FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



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THE SOILING SYSTEM 



303 





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CHAPTER XXIV 



1 



RELATION OF FOOD TO MANURE 

Quality of Manure. — On many farms manure is 
measured by its quantity rather than by its quality. 
In open barnyards it is left to accumulate, often for 




Either Too Much or Too Little 

When manure is put in small piles it is generally unevenly distributed. If 
not immediately spread the soluble parts sink into the ground under the 
piles, thus over-enriching these spots. The greater part of the soil area 
gets only the manure debris. 

a year or more ; and exposed to rain and weather it 
decomposes, and wastes away, or is lost in rich 
streams of colored liquid to brooks and creeks. 
When so handled the cream of its value escapes from 

806 



RELATION OF FOOD TO MANURE 



307 



the farm, leaving only the debris and coarser parts 
for the fields and vegetation. The evil of this way 
of preserving manure more and more is becoming 
apparent and a change in this respect ought to be 
more commonly set in motion in the future. 

But there is still too little attention given the 
production of manure from the standpoint of qual- 
ity. Many farnfers give little thought to food in 
relation to the resulting manure. They seem to 
think that manure is just manure, and that one kind 
of food is about as good as another for producing it. 
When purchasing a feeding stuff its fertilizing value 
is usually ignored when, in fact, this matter should 
be weighed as carefully as are the food nutrients 
contained in it. Take two feeds like corn and cot- 
tonseed meal. Both may be and are used exten- 
sively in the feeding of cattle. In many tests the 
latter has shown its superiority both for beef and the 
dairy. The comparison is incomplete, however, if 
the fertilizing values are not compared also. This 
has been done in the following table : 



CORN AND COTTONSEED MEAL COMPARED 





In 1 ton of product 




Feed 


Nitrogen 


Phosphoric 


Potash 


Value 


Corn 


33.0 
145.0 


14.2 
60.8 


11.4 
31.6 


$ 6.56 

27.82 


Cottonseed naeal 



From this we see that, allowing 16 cents a pound 
for nitrogen and 5 cents each for phosphoric acid 
and potash, the fertilizing value of the cottonseed 



308 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

meal is $27.82, while of corn it is but $6.56, or one- 
fourth as much. To the man who is obliged to buy 
either corn or cottonseed meal this should be con- 
clusive that it is in his interest, both from the stand- 
point of feed and of manure, to purchase the cotton- 
seed meal. * 

Value of Farm Manures. — The character of the 
food determines the value of manure. The animal 
can add nothing. In the undigested portions the 
fertilizing materials are voided, while of that ab- 
sorbed into the system, such amounts are appropri- 
ated as are needed. In case of animals neither gain- 
ing nor losing in weight — for instance, farm horses 
that just hold their own — as much fertilizer mate- 
rials are returned in solid and liquid excrement as 
are taken in the food from day to day. In this case, 
if the manure is wholly returned to the land, the 
entire food supply serves as fertilizing material. 

Young and growing animals and those furnishing 
wool or milk, retain considerable amounts of the 
nitrogen and the ash constituents. Fattening ani- 
mals that are nearly mature retain but small 
amounts of nitrogen and ash. These facts are in- 
dicated in the table by Warrington given on the 
next page. 

The amount of ash constituents of the food stored 
up in the body is very small. As seen in the table, 
fattening oxen retain but 2.3 per cent, fattening 
sheep 3.8 per cent, and fattening pigs 4 per cent. 
Milk cows retain more ; this is to be found in the 
milk. The young calf puts into bone and muscles 
over one-half of the ash of its food. As for nitro- 



RELATION OF FOOD TO MANURE 



309 



gen, the work horse, either at rest or at work, gives 
back all, fattening oxen and sheep retain a small 
amount, fattening hogs a larger amount, milk cows 
keep one-fourth, and the young calf two-thirds. 
Nitrogen is voided largely as urine. 

Double Value in Feeds. — All feeding stufifs have 
two values — feed and fertility. The commercial 



NITROGEN AND ASH IN ANIMAL PRODUCE^ AND VOIDED, 
FOR 100 POUNDS OF FOOD CONSUMED 





Nitrogen 


Ash constituents 


Kind of animal 


§ri 

None 
None 
3.9 
4.3 
14.7 
24.5 
69.3 


u 

43.0 
29.4 
22.6 
16.7 
21.0 
18.1 
5.1 




0^ 
-0 

H <D 






Horse at rest .... 
Horse at work . . . 
Fattening oxen . . 
Fattening sheep.. 
Fattening pigs . . 

Milk cows 

Calf on milk 


57.0 

70.6 

73.5 

79.0 

64.3 

57.41 

25.6 


100.0 

100.0 

96.1 

95.7 

85.3 
75.5 
30.7 


None 

2.3 

3.8 

4.0 

10.3 

54.3 


' 100.0 

97.7 
96.2 
96.0 

89.7 
45.7 



value in most instances is based on the feeding value 
as compared with other feeding stuffs. But even 
so, the fertilizing value of manure resulting must be 
ignored no longer. To illustrate the meaning of the 
double value of a feed, it is here assumed that cot- 
tonseed meal has a commercial value of $27.82. This 
is the first or fertilizing value ; and since by feeding 
it valuable food products are made, a second value is 
possessed by it. 



310 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

It has been observed that milk cows retain 24.5 
per cent of the nitrogen of the food. Deducting, 
therefore, one-fourth of this to meet the cost of the 
fertilizing materials extracted, there is left $20.87. 
In other words, as a feed the cost was only $6.95 
a ton. When so used a double profit is secured as 
follows : 

Value as a fertilizer $27.82 

Value after being fed 20.87 

Total $48.69 

Selling Fertility. — The man who buys cottonseed 
meal and other similar feeding stuffs as feed gains 
by the enterprise, but the men who produce and sell 
them, lose. By disposing of these valuable food 
products farmers sell the plant food of their lands. 
When sent to Europe or to other sections there is 
transferred fertility from the lands producing these 
crops to the dairy and beef farms where they are 
consumed. When animal products are sold the 
drain on the land is not large, but if grain crops are 
sold much plant food is withdrawn from the soil. 
This will be seen in the table on the next page. 

This table shows that grain products make con- 
siderable demands on the plant food supply of the 
soil, and that when such are sold much more fer- 
tility is disposed of than when animal products are 
sold. 

The farmer who sells a ton of clover hay with- 
draws from his soil $8.72 worth of fertility. This 
is half as much as he receives. If, on the other hand, 
he sells a ton of pork, he sends from his farm but 
$6.35 worth of fertility, but receives 20 times as 



RELATION OF FOOD TO MANURE 



311 



much for it as the value of the fertility contained in 
it. If he sells milk he receives 40 times as much as 
the fertility contained in it, and if he sells butter his 
returns are 1,000 times as much as is the value of the 
fertility sold in the butter product. 



FERTILIZING CONSTITUENTS IN CERTAIN PLANT AND 
ANIMAL PRODUCTS 





In one ton of substance 




Material 


Nitrogen 


Phos- 
phoric 
acid 


Potash 


Value 


Timothy hay .... 

Clover hay 

Corn 


18.8 

39.4 

33.0 

38.0 

145.0 

46.6 

■ 35.4 

11.6 

2.4 


6.6 
11.0 
14.2 
11.0 
60.8 
31.0 
13.0 
3.8 
0.8 


28.4 
37.4 
11.4 
17.4 
31.6 

3.8 

2.8 

3.4 • 

0.4 


$ 4.75 
8.72 
6 56 


Wheat 


7 50 


Cottonseed meal. . 
Fat ox 


27.82 
9 19 


Fat pig 

Milk ..... 


6.35 

2 17 


Butter 


44 







Loss of Fertility Contained in Feed. — Due to care- 
less methods of handling manure, there is a tremen- 
dous loss of fertility in the aggregate each year. 
Much of the nitrogen is lost through fermentation 
and leaching as fast as the manure is made. Much 
of the potash is lost in drainage waters from the 
stable and the barnyards. This loss can be greatly- 
lessened by the use of litter in the stables, by cov- 
ered barnyards, and through the addition from day 
to day of some preservative like acid phosphate to 
the excrement as made. 

There is loss through leaching, not only In barn- 
yards, but wherever manure is exposed to the influ- 



312 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



ence of the weather. In loose, open piles fully one- 
half of the fertilizing value may disappear in a half- 
year period. If manure is not hauled direct to the 
field and scattered, it may be fairly well preserved 
in large piles, which should be kept moist; or in 
covered barnyards, where it should be thoroughly 
compacted, with enough litter provided to absorb 
the liquid and keep the animals clean. Fresh 
manures that undergo fermentation rapidly, such as 
horse and sheep manures, should be mixed with lit- 



fe?fe '} 'J'A<'-'/''/)/ii\ 



V///,', 



W) 

o 

I 

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BEEF 



to a 
o 

I 
a 

MILK 



z o 

Q. 

BUTTER 



Removal of Fertility 



era 

CO 

o 

I 
a. 



WHEAT 



In the sketch are shown the amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
potash removed from the soil when 1,000 pounds each of beef, milk, butter 
and wheat are sold. 



ter immediately, else the nitrogen will be lost. Gyp- 
sum sprinkled on fresh manure has long been a 
popular preservative. 

Poor Manure. — That it pays to give the preserva- 
tion of manure close attention is shown by the tests 
conducted by the Ohio station. Here poorly pre- 
served and well-preserved manure was used in field 
tests. In both cases the rate of application was 
eight tons to the acre on clover sod plowed under 
for corn, and then followed in a three-year rotation 



RELATION OF FOOD TO MANURE 



313 



with wheat and clover without further manuring or 
fertilizing. The table following shows the average 
increase of each crop for both kinds of manure : 



YARD AND FRESH MANURE COMPARED 



Kind of manure 


Bushels of 
corn 


Bushels of 
wheat 


Pounds of 
hay 


Yard manure 

Fresh manure 


16.03 
22.24 


8.21 
9.73 


698 
1.280 



In discussing these tests, Director Thorne says 
that not only was the manure greatly reduced in 
quantity, but the quality likewise was impaired by 
exposure, the rain leaching out the most soluble and 
therefore the most valuable portion. At current 
prices the average increase from a ton of open yard 
manure, including the straw and stover, was worth 
about $2, while that from the fresh manure reached 
an average value of nearly $3, and this value was in- 
creased to $4.50 when the manure was reinforced 
with acid phosphate. 

That manure materially decreases in bulk and 
plant food value is shown in an experiment recorded 
by Professor Roberts. Starting with 4,000 pounds 
of manure the amount decreased to 1,730 pounds; 
because of poor preservation 60 per cent of the nitro- 
gen escaped into the air; and 75 per cent of the 
potassium and 40 per cent of the phosphorus leached 
away in rain water. When this pile of manure is 
considered from the standpoint of money value, it is 
found that at the beginning it was worth $5.48; but 



314 



FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



after being exposed for five months the plant food 
value was only $2.03 — scarcely one-third its original 
value. 

Why Full Value of Fertility of Feeds Is Not 
Secured to Lands. — Many farmers fail to get results 
in the field from the use of manure, considered from 




How Farm Manure Is Wasted 

Handled in this manner, the nitrogen and soluble fertilizing materials 
leach out and waste away. This explains why much farm manure is of 
little value when placed on the land. 



the standpoint of actual fertilizing value, not be- 
cause the plant food is not in the manure made 
from the feed given the animals, but because of neglect 
after the manure has been made. Farmers often 
fail also to get a full response from the use of feeds, 
just as they fail to get maximum returns from the 
manure made from the feeds. 



RELATION OF FOOD TO MANURE 315 

From actual feeding tests it has been shown that 
a ton of alfalfa or of cowpea hay is almost equal in 
feeding value to a ton of wheat bran. This is not 
only evident from the digestible composition of 
these feeds, but from feeding tests. If, therefore, 
when put to the test a ton of alfalfa proves far in- 
ferior to wheat bran, or if when this alfalfa is fed 
to beef or dairy cattle the full fertilizing value is not 
secured; or if gluten, cottonseed meal, or other con- 
centrates, when fed, do not fetch the results in the 
field when the resulting manure is applied, it should 
not be concluded that the practical side of the feed 
and the fertilizing questions do not correspond with 
the theoretical facts. 

Ordinarily, the explanation will be found else- 
where. A ton of inferior alfalfa hay is not equal in 
feeding value to a ton of wheat bran if weather- 
beaten, much rained upon, or weedy and unappetiz- 
ing. A ton of cottonseed meal is not worth its esti- 
mated value for feeding and fertilizing if it contains 
so many hulls that its protein and fat constituents 
are far below its normal composition. The fact is, 
the plant food contained in a ton of cottonseed meal 
is worth $27.82 according to the prices of commer- 
cial fertilizers, but the farmer will fail to get results 
in line with this fact if the liquid manure is lost or 
if the manure is leached by rains or burned up 
through fermentation. This same cottonseed meal 
will not be worth its commercial price as a feeding 
stuff when fed to a poor cow or steer as compared 
with other feeds of good quality consumed by a good 
cow or steer. 



3l6 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 

The Full Value of a Feeding Stuff for feed and 
fertilizer is secured only when the feed has been 
properly prepared in the first place, then fed in the 
proper combination with other feeds to farm ani- 
mals of good breeding and selected for the purpose 
to which they are best adapted, and finally so 
handled as manure that the fertilizing materials are 
not lost through fermentation, decomposition and 
leaching. Such practice is good farming and is 
fundamental for success in feed lot or open field. 



I 



APPENDIX 



817 



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320 



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l_^ 1-1 i-H T-H i-H 7-1 ^^^^^tHiHi-Ht-Ht-HiH t-I i-H 

JH IO-*iOirOuO t-rHOSIM-^CCiOOOOOt^tD CC^t^O 

■^ i-I i-H T-l i-i T-i O 7-H O rH i-H i-H O O t-I i-i o" O i-I r-1 tA 

MOTfOSCOOi (M •* -rf 00 M Oi <r> t- <» C- Oi <X>Oit^Oi 

•^ i-i' c\i CO o" «5 o 1-H fo t-* ^j -^ lo" oo' CO CO CO oo' ^' oo C<1 

M -T}"^^-*'CO '^ Tt< T^ CO TT* Tt< ^ Tt< T}H CO ^ COtJI'*^ 

W COC-OOOOCM -^COifJi-iaSTtlCSTflt-t-O (MOOlO 

■^ i^ -=*<" ^ CO -^ TfH co' TjH CO t-' co' oq Ti^' i^ -i^" t>^ o lo CM co' 

M 

m^,-j^oo oouoooci'OcoooTt^ oot-oo 

"^ co' O 1-^ co' O CO co' r-i' CD Co' (m' ci Co' Iffl Co' Co' CO co' LC o 

h-loioiCioooo oooocTjCooocicyoaioocooi ooooc<jc; 



(Do 

2S 



^^d: 



-oqjBO 



UI^:^oJcI 
epnao 



sqi 001 ui 
ae;;BLu Aap lur^oj, 



^ be • a=H 
o 






K 03 

K m a; 

be 5^ • d cc ^ 

>3 ^ k! > 

<u ?-i >> be f-i ;> 

Ij+j ^ CvS-^ cd ^'2 



•?bJ] 






brirrl 


c 




■ri 03 


+^ OD 




rf 




O 0) 



rt cu 0, q o ra d 03 G ri^^rj:; m 



APPENDIX 



323 



' t-' oi ,H 



tH CO CO 









fO <T>t 

«oodt 



LO-* en 10 









O l-HO 



MIOO 

tM* c<i so' 



OOtOOOCO^ t-05THL0i— I COtHOOOOCO-^CO OOMi-l-^Cn t-SsJLOLOS^CO 
T— I-*IGOC<JOO OjOit-Om -TtiC^OOCO-^COt- ■rHt>-t--C^'oO COCO*«"o<X>00 
T-li-l T-HiH t_(tHtHS^iM C\1S^MC\1,-IC-1C0 (MC^i— INi— I MCKli-IC^i-lr-l 



00 00 



< Oi t^ t— OOOOtHt 

( o i-I o rH oq c<{ T 



iirtoqcoosco T-neo- 

i O r-5 rH O tH C^' r-i Co' i 



O C^ Irt CO CO L-5 
<m' r-i i-H i-I T-H tH* 



Oicot-ooo ooot-[-<M a5i>.t-oicoioa5 ot-NLOoo irtocicooooi 



OS ocq <^J cq «5 ' 



CO C0^}< CO ■ 



■*LOcococo t~t— '^ooi— I oj^i-HQOiOc£> oorHtooico Oo't>-oom'co 



00 t-co 



t-;C--iX>t-0 t^C^OOCOCO M^Oi-^C<]LCaiT-! Ot^-^OOO OOLOOt-I^ 
Lft 10 05 Crs CO ■^' CTi 00' O O O oi -m' 00 <7i '-I 10 tH 00' M O o" >J^ "o" <^ LO t-' Co' 
OOOOOOOOO5 OOt-t-CSOS aiOOOlOOOOCiCTJ cnOOOlCTjCi COCCOOOOOOOO 



•* Cf. 00 

o c^i o 

'^ '^ C\, 



• V 
' V 










E 

c 
c 


> 





fcJDbX)>,ci 

M 0) r: — 
Oj 3 M Oj fl 

bx)X2 rt ;::5 

SCO (l; +-> 

03 OI 133 X :3 



o o £ a; 01 

a; O) TO^;^ 



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jTi !=: 



o a 



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ti 5 



^ S !=! S '3^ 

tn C t> ^'^ 

^•-Z Ojr^ bJ3 

3 rt 0) CD 0) 






»2g 

^ 






324 



APPENDIX 



5'g 


HSB^OcJ 


^ 
J 


10.6 
17.3 

11.4 

10.4 
8.2 
4.5 


siisisi 


"^jH* irt ai ifl eo' ■*' 




piO-B 

oijoqd 
-so^a 




OOCCO 1 IrtOO"* 
C^i-IrH ' (TqCOrH 


nii"i:i 


cocgeor-jt^ os 

T-l'lHOlHOO 


fa 


uaSoa;iN 






a; b- (M M CO -"i^ cq 
CJ «^ CO co' TjH co' c^ 


Ci O S^ t- rH OS 

<rq co' M M c4 iH 


m 


;^^ 


% 

J 


Oo'o* ' rHo'o 


-* -* t~ lO «S '^ -* 


•^irtc^cococo 


ooooooo 


oooooo 


1^ 

C ft 
mo 

CO C 


-oqaBO 


^ 
J 


i-JCOrfC-i-H-^O 
O -^ t>I oi O U5 C-j 
Tt< CO eo 00 ■* iM CO 


1-H M lO 1-5 CO M tH 


t- eo 05 CO «o lo 
OS 00 TP 05 rH oi 


uir:.:^oac{ 
epnao 


CO 

3 


oi ai M ?c CO (M U5 

O O* T-I CO C^ i-I rH 


THOr4iHi-Hr-Io 


oo oi Oi T-H eo U5 

OOOr-ido 



sqi 001 ui 
J9;:}-Bixr Aap iB^oj, 



t-oeoc^OiOiO Tf «o Oi 00 «c CIO 



^ 


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0) 


c 




o 


O 


'i 


41 


sti 


P 


cC 




-C 


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fi 




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(U CO CSC 



CO 



9 ^^^*- 



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0) cu 

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•^ o „. 



1^ 3 5 r' o t> S 



o d 









i^S m i> O 3 



APPENDIX 



325 






II i:;i 1 1 



OOt>. 



ICClrtfOl I 1^1 I I MOtHUSI^ IrtlT^C^^f COOCO-5l<| 






0O5<iTj<;eeo ooooooiio o-*ooo5t}< O'ooc^io^ t--focoooc- 

CO ■** 10 (M* T)< CO 10 CO T-H CO Ifi CO* CO iH C<J t-I ■*' CC 10 to t- -^ CO Irt CO 



Irt 00 to O irt 

o o o o" o 



-^-^Oloco lot-iftcg-*! -^cococqc^i t-c^iiOLO-^ ^^ic^ic^coco 
o" o r-i 00 o o o o o o" o o o o 00000 o' o o o' o 



Or-liM-^TjH CO?Ot-t-Ttl Oi?OTt<00 «OrH-*rH-^ ,-H«>t---rt<t>. 

s^-^oooiS 00 c^i 10 CO co' in co' ■>* o* iH co' oi i-i oi 00 c^ ?o 00 w" t>^ 



lO00lOC<ICi 
iM'cQr-HrHrH 



r-! C^J C^' ,-H rH i-^'^'wo'T-i 



" rH o o' 5^' s<i e4 oi c<i co i-h i-f ci co* 



o o; •»*' o c^ 



t^-^OOOO T-IOOIOOCO 02 lO O 10 O C^ O C^ T-H o c<i o ■* o o 
UK] co' !>.' kO T-I o' «C o' LO 00 00' LO IC 00 o' OS O 10 oi O CO 10 O LO CO 



c^icvicoe<ic^ cocvicoMc^i cvicvicQi— ic^ MC^<: 



Cl^i-^THrH 



= S3 



CO '^ 

cc fl C o'O 



c 5 oj 



, w 



0) cS 
3 fcH W 

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.' nS fl >H S 
5 S^(s3 (DO 






ij a; 

> o > 

° 2 

o Co 



OJ o 



(D 

«H si 1^ « 
n ^ ^-1 

r;>>a3<53rt ^^«o1' i53W<»0 Jiiili^S-'P- .-inOH^iHH 

ts:p^oopq ^SEh^^M M^M^U tf^^JOw <<MoffiK 



> 

^ in P- ,t( rrt 

ftO| 



cii c^ 



326 



APPENDIX 



0^ m 
w o 

Oo 



xn 

2 o 
C ft 



qsB^Oti 



piO-B 

oTJoi{a 



uaSoa^T^ 



^'B^ 



-oqaBO 



spnao 



sqi OOT ui 



rQuri' LCTTTOcoirt 'into' ' 

-Q «p in ■* irt -^ CO "* •*' CO ^' lO Tj< 

W IC -* CO CO M M CO -^ •* C-l CO LO 

-^ OO o'o"oo"o o'o'o'o'o' 
I— 1 

WO-*i ^iOOCOOUti iHCvlOCOCO 

•^ T-ioo -,r5 «5 lo t>^ «>' oio'oo'-* 

(-1 T-H rH7-(,-liH 



000000 t^'^ eo Oi 

lO -"^ CO CO CO cj ^ 



> CO i^ ^ O^ O^ C^l 

( o* o o' o o T-! 



•r)< -^ Cvl OS ,-1 00 o^ 

co' irq c<i c^i oq i-i r-n 



tH ^ C-1 1-J ^ CO .-1 

o o' o' o' o" o' o' 



lO C- Lft 05 CC C^ CO 



tHC- 00?OC0Oir-l 
to Cq T-i Cvi C^' i-H C<j 



■t-l 00 CO <Xi CO 

c^ rH ri eq ri 



tH M OCO OS coo 
T-i 1-H T-H T-' O O rH 



0? C5 00 



COOoOO OCOOOO 






rt c^ rt oS o 
a; oj a; S -e, 

'O 'O fQ f^ 






02 1> 



Cfl CC TO CS K,^ 



o 



03 ^ 



APPENDIX 



327 






CO oi ' 1-1 o ' I ' t-' '^ o -*' 



I I 



((Mi-HLO I to 



I I ,_; ^' -^' ^" I I 



c^ ^-^ 



Cq LO K! (M tH OJ 

'(^q■<^4 



C-COlOCOt-00 t- -^ to CO r-l OJ C<] ^ 10 i-H O LO 

01 ■*' 00 tH cvi CO to ai CO T*H o rH cq cq -^ to -^ ■** 



C^ Cvl CO <o C-l 
O O O 10" o 



Oq CI i-H M (rq ^ 
O O O O O o 



«0|>-t-S^TiDCvl LOOCOOlOOlft -^OlGOOOt^t- 

o o o o o o o i-I T-I o 1-! o 00 o" O O o* 



i-H t- CJ5 tH Oi 
O ^' cq' (35 00 
r-lT-IC<l CM 



LOOq 0:>000 CO 
CO 06 K5 LO 10 CO 



'^c^icsimi-HO cqiototoi-oco i-Hc-T-Haicqc^ 
1— i-*-<*icocoai CiLOOioo'— 1'35 ococooqco'crj 



tH CO 00 CO 00 
r-i rH O O d 



00 OCO OiO '^ 

d c^' irq tA rH 1-H 



o^-*TH,-(C\]t>- ire-^t-Locco. x"co^c<itoco 
o i-H T-i d o o th CO cm' i-I ^' d d d C<1 C^' r-: r-! 



t-LO OJlCO 



cq CO o o ,— I c<] 
c<i ^ o cvi d <^ 



o^Tj^coosOoq ocicC't^c-o c<ic5C<)c^oO 






cu C ;:^ 
7; crt/2 ra j-i'^ 

ftp OJO---" "2 






Si e. 

CS 3; :-! q; G 

O O O o -jzi >^ 



o ^ «^ „^ J" i^ 
O (jj (X) TO ;h 



Co 



^ <^ 0) (^ "i; 
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fi d <^ 5 

d n S rorQ'ci 



=^ ri S .u m 

oag|c«^ 
i^ u d p^ u ''^ 

0)00=^ 

OUAhOOCQ 



328 



APPENDIX 





4-> 


U5 C^_ 


00 


t- CO 






Nitrogen- 

ree extrac 

and crude 

fiber 


as «o cq '*' in 




» 


M iH T-l r-l 7-1 rH 






^5 0000 WO 


oocot- 




Pour 

7.5 t 

13.0 t 

9.8 t 
11.5 t 
12.9 t 
13.9 t 

10. 
11. 


d oirHCO 




T-t iHr-l 


w 


«M 












01 




m 




o 




Tj 




a 


1 


jHiHt-. coinnooo cqc<i 


t-- •^<X><X) 


ce 


S d d dd 




d ,-; d d 


3 




s 










m 


^a 


j^ (M « CO 00 




V 


"d c<i th eq CO CO 




3 


2o 


C t- 0000 «^iA 


o> e<i?o(rci 




Pou 
0. 

1.8 t 

1.2 t 

1.9 t 
2.6 t 

3.3 t 

1. 
1. 


1-* rH',-;c<l' 


03 

0) 

5 


"& 


















4J 


in CO N oi w 






c 


w ■<*< 00 tH CO d 






2"^ 


-O r-\ j-t ^ r-t 






5oo 0000 eoo 


10 cgeco 




^^ 


Pou 

6. 

2.5 t 

7.8 t 
9.8 t 

1.8 t 

3.9 t 

8. 
9. 


^ dT-I in 




^^ 


rt rHrS 








0) 


^ 








00 t>» o? oi in C3 






ro d T-i rH r-5 C^ CO 








COO OOOO ©(M 


^. O-^O 







-, ^ ^ ^ -^ ^ -^ ^'r^ 


1H ^* tH M 




(1h 


«D in «0 (M 00 
Ph d rH- ^ rA <n' <m' 










vy 
tter 
otal 
ion 


^i-HCvi c-oico-<*< co?e 
^c^co c<ic^coc3 M<^^ 


C^ COt£>X 




CO MCslfM 




Poui 
15 to 

24 to 

22 to 

25 to 
27 to 
27 to 

18 to 
20 to 


000 




"Is 2 


-M +J+J+J 




^ 00--ICO 




cq T-ico'Tj 






c ^ : J : 2 





-o • _-^* • • 
CO •-* • r oj • • 


d '. • : : 


O+J 

§1 




ull-grown oxe 
maintenance di 

at rest 

attening oxe: 
full grown.... 
[ilk cows 
Milk yield 


01 

X c 


Milk yield 

pounds 

Milk yield 

pounds 

heep, full grow 
maintenance dii 
Coarser breeds 
Finer breeds . . 


attening s h e e 

full grown . . . 

:orses 

Light work . . . , 

Medium work 

Heavy work . . 




fe fe ^ w 


P^ ffi 




i rt <M* CO 




^ 


us d 



APPENDIX 



329 






ddo 


1;©'* CO 
(M"r-;ddd 


eoooio"* 
wc<ir^*dd 


ddddd 


i-idddd 




CO fO eq C<I rH 


10 -^' fO C<i r-i 


COOOiHOOia 
eOCvlNr-Ii-; 





00 '* M o OS 05 1- •>*' i-I d d CO* d d oi t-' irs eo i-n d 



0000 Tj-oooooocc in in 00 (M 10 omoomiM mm mo in 

e^'s^'lM* CO (m' S^' tH T-I '* Co' C<J im' T-i co' «4 rH t-H t-I TjH*cOC^oirH 



t-cooo 
cococ<i 
000 



j3 • • • a; 4:3 T3 fo 'o "O ^ci c: 'O'O'O'O'O fOr^ 'O'O'a'O'a _ 'O'O'arrjrrt 
?r m'=''c! 7i'?.>^°°°°'^^, 00000 _^^<i^ooooO'a 00000 

Q, .rt 4J "-1 rt OJ ^ 111 t-1 

J-iftir; t) >)> mooooo+j 00000 7? r oiomooo (D moooo 
If, O) 5 ^H.^ai^ooood «Dcomt-m °.^ o,«t-ooo5 so 000 cm 10 

fig-g^ 5'^ I ^^ ^ 

'm siSl m fn 2 W.5 '^^«o«^ioo^£5:;fO'y5=^oo-*S(SC^«ooor-imO'^5r«ooo7-(ino 
S)o5<^°5o ooooohI ?i;gooooo 00000 
00 ''i H cq CO «o c<i 00 Nco^cqood "^s Sm«eoor-im m«Door-im 



330 



APPENDIX 





JJ 










trogen- 
e extrac 
d crude 
fiber 


VI 








-a 


ooin 


O O O O O O Irt UO U3 Irt 




o 


«J5 lO '^ 


oo CO T-! d lo' 00 iri (m' d oo 






WtMC-^rHi-H M(MiMC<l.-l 




n a; C 


Ch 






M 


<H 




_ 












O 










1 


OOc-t- 


oooimcocq ooit-imro 


Of 

13 


o 


do'd 


r-(' d d d d T-; d d d d 




CM 


_ 












m 










rS 


oS 








3 


2o 






d in CO CO M d ic '^ co" co' 


s 


^^ 






be 




















Q- " 


c 










X a; 
"1 


o 


ooo 


OOCCCOiMOO COOUSLrtOO 




cj > 


t- d lO 


co' t-" co' d lo co' c<i d ■<*'' d 




"i 




CO ■M C\l <^^ 1-1 CO CO OQ <M i-i 




<u 










J-, 


. 








'S 


'O 

c 


lOOlO 


c-qoococ^ cviLOioo^ 




o 


13 


0^' CO c^i 


d V co' (m' 1-h d '^" CO co' pi 




^ 


o 








A. 


fn 










o 


T-MOOO 


Tf< ca c<i 00 trs -rj* co c<j co in 




02^"^ 


COCC'Cvl 


•T*<cococ<ic3 -<j<eoeopq(M 




£.S^ 


1^ 










be 


mm m be 


+j m m m m m ^ti m "i m m m 






c 


'ca'C _, 




_!_, 




CC fl s 


■^^^ 




c 


3 3^ -^ 


-Hrt:33;3nP'- 3^:3:3:3 

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^^^OOOiniO-^ ^OLOOIO 






O O O „'0 


"^ 


0) 


lA oo o 'S< '^ 


U ^ 


S 
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d 


OOOi-H ^ 


is 


fc 






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o 


ajc~aii-< O rt 


■'-' C^comcoc5cvi'"-^fOm?ca5(M 


0) P 




^^ 


^ T-H i-'^' 


M— +j ^^^tc ,-1 






OOO^ 


g^gooooo S3SS° 
■^ S cq CO in cc OS (Mcoincoos 


^o 






■^+J+J 






lysc- Old 








I— 1 





INDEX 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Abomasum 23 

Alfalfa for brood sows 149 

Aluminum 3 

Animals, cheapest gain In young 36 

composition of 36-37 

feeding young 125 

little trouble with suckling 131 

what animals contain 40 

Appetite 29 

Ash 17,40,41 

Ash, constituents of 38 

Baby beef, objections against.... 211 
Baby beeves finished on grass... 210 

Bacon, making good 253 

Balanced ration 29 

Beef animals, two classes of. . . . 201 

Beef calf 135 

Beef calves fed first winter 207 

Beef cattle, feeding of 198 

Beef, food requirements for..., 198 

Beef stock, good and bad 200 

Beeves, age of fattening 199 

fall feeding of, on grass 214 

finished at two years of age... 211 

Blood circulation 28 

Bones 5 

Breeding animals, feeding of 145 

Brood mares 152 

Brood sow 149 

Butter, grade and quality of . . . . 188 

Calcium 3 

Calf, feeding beef 135 

Calf feeds 132 

Calves, feeding for beef 203 

Calves on whole milk 205 

Calves the second winter 191 

Calving time 148 

Capacity of silos 278 

Capillaries 26 

Carbohydrates 41, 42, 43, 56 

Carbon 4 

Carrots for horses 167 

Cattle, feeding full grown 215 

Cell division 12 

Cells, plant 12 

Chemical elements 1,2 

Chemical elements in plants and 

animals 3 

Chemical elements united 4 

Chemical energy 95 

Chicks, feed for little 260 

Chlorine 3 

Chyme 25 



PAGE 

Circulation of blood 28 

Cockerels, fattening the 265 

Co-efFicient of digestibility 49 

Colostrum 126 

Colt creep 143 

Combustible matter 36 

Corn, composition of 48 

Corn, hogging off 253 

Corn stover, composition of . . . . 50 

Cost of nutrients 117 

Cost of ration 107 

Covered barnyard 182 

Cow, beef, on range 148 

Cowpeas 44 

Cow, what age is best 175 

Cow when carrying calf 146 

Crate feeding for poultry 265 

Creep for colts 143 

Crude fiber 19 

Dairy calf, feeding the 132 

Dairy calves, rations for 193 

Dairy cattle, feeding of 172 

Dairy cows, computing the ra- 
tions for 103 

feeding of 184 

food requirements of 172 

Dairy stock, feeding young 188 

Dew 18 

Digestible nutrients 50,51 

Digestibility 31, 45, 51 

co-efficient of 49 

decrease of 31 

how determined 46 

Digestion 21 

Digestion, what influences 34 

Dishorning 192 

Dry cows, summer and winter... 194 

Duodenum 25 

Eggs chemically analyzed 258 

feeding for, in winter 274 

Elements and their symbols 20 

Energy 42 

Energy values 93 

Energy values in feeds 95 

Ether extract 19 

Ewe, feed for 154 

Exercise for brood sows 152 

Extract juice 24 

Farm horses, feeding I56 

Farm manures, value of 308 

Farm poultry, feeding 258 

Fat 15, 40, 41, 42, 43, 56 

Fattening cockerels 265 



333 



334 



INDEX 



■ 



PAGE 

Fattening grown sheep 236 

Fattening hogs 251 

Fattening horses 169 

Feed, at lambing time 155 

Feeding beef cattle 198 

Feeding box for hay 149 

Feeding dairy cattle 172 

Feeding dai-y cow with calf 146 

Feeding dairy cows in winter. . . . 184 

Feeding farm horses 156 

Feeding farm poultry 25S 

Feeding grain on pasture 179 

Feeding lambs 137 

Feeding lambs for marlcet 235 

Feeding little chicks 260 

Feeding mules 170 

Feeding of breeding animals.... 145 

Feeding period extended 59 

Feeding pigs 141 

Feeding, regularity in 162 

Feeding sheep 223 

Feeding standard as guide. .. .62, 181 

Feeding standards 58,61 

Feeding standards on the basis or 

starch values 88 

Feeding stuffs 45 

composition of 47 

for cattle 217 

what they contain 12 

Feeding stuffs, full value of 316 

Feeding stuffs possess energy... 93 

vary in price 113 

Feeding swine 241 

Feeding the beef calf 135 

Feeding the dairy calf 132 

Feeding the foal 143 

Feeding the stallion 167 

Feeding young animals 125 

Feeding young dairy stock 188 

Feeds, calf 132 

Feeds, double value in 309 

Feeds, easy to swap 113 

energy value of 95 

judgment in purchasing 114 

roughage for horses 163 

Feeds, grain, for horses 165 

Fertility in feeds 314 

loss of, in feed 311 

selling of 310 

Fertilizers, buying 10 

Fertilizing elements, their value.. 9 

Foal, feeding of 143 

Food and manure 306 

Food, character of 157 

Food, nature of 157 

Food nutrients 44 

Food requirements for beef 198 

for dairy cows 172 

for horses 156 

for sheep 223 

for swine 241 

Food requirements of the young 125 



PAGE 

Food requirements on basis of 

starch values 89 

Food should be home grown.... 117 

Food, steaming and cooking .34 

Food supply for cows 194 

Food, uses of 63 

Foods, appetizing 29 

laxative 147 

Foods during the molt 273 

Foods, mixed 66 

Foods, what to choose 74 

Fowls, grain feed for 267 

Fowls, grit necessary for 271 

Grain, feeding on pasture 179 

Grain feeds for cows 187 

for calves 190 

for horses 165 

Green feeds 26S 

Gums 19 

Haecker's investigation 77 

Haecker's standard 79 

Hay 32 

Hay curing 33 

Heat 94 

Heavy milkers, feeding for 70 

Heifers fatten early 217 

Hens in summer 27 1 

Herd bull, care of '. 192 

Hogging off corn 253 

Hog house 150 

Hogs, best gains made early.... 244 

fattening 39 

forage for cheap gain 250 

gain with age 39 

grazing rations for 249 

heavy eaters 243 

mineral matter for 246 

Horses, fattening for market.... 169 

feeding farm 156 

food requirements for 156 

two rations for, compared.... Ill 

Hydrogen 3 

Incombustible matter 37 

Intestinal digestion 25 

Intestines 26 

Iron 3 

Kellner feeding standards 328 

Lambing time 155 

Lambs ■ 138 

Lambs, feeding of, for market... 235 

Laxative foods 147 

Laying hens 276 

Leaf cells 16 

Leaf mouths 4 

Leaf, underside of 14 

Legumes 8, 115 

Life, cycle of 4,41 

Lymph 27 

Maintenance requirements for en- 
ergy 97 

Maintenance standard 59 

Manure, relation to food 306 

what makes poor 312 



INDEX 



335 



PAGE 

Manures, natural, and fertilizers. . 9 

Mare, feeding brood 152 

Measuring heat 94 

Meat feeds 270 

Milk 130 

Milk, fertilizing value of 39 

how often to 174 

producing, economically 182 

quality of 75 

requirements for 100 

what influences quality 176 

Milk formation, what influences. . 174 

Milk, skim 130 

Milk-yielding function 172 

Mineral material 17,40,46 

Mixtures, foir calves 190 

Moldy hay 158 

Molt of fowls 273 

Mucin 24 

Mules, feeding of 170 

Nature is balanced 1 

Nature of food 157 

Nature, three divisions 1 

Nitrogen 4,38 

Nitrogen-free compounds 19 

Nutrients, cost of 1 17, 122 

defined 44 

digestible 50 

Nutritive ratio 55 

determination of 56 

wide or narrow 57 

Oil 15 

Omasum 23 

Osmosis 13 

Oxygen 3 

Pastures are ideal basic rations.. 177 

Paunch 22 

Pepsin 24 

Phosphoric acid 38 

Phosphorus 3 

Pigging time 151 

Pigs, feeding of 141 

pasture for 248 

Plant building, its meaning .... 16 

Plant cells 12 

Plant constituents grouped .... 19 

Plant food, supply of 6 

Plant tissue 13 

Plants, how they grow 12 

Portable house for hogs 150 

Potash 38 

Potassium 3 

Prime steers 209 

Protein 15, 40, 41, 42, 43, 123 

not solely purchased 117 

oversupply of 75 

purchase of 119 

requirements for cows 183 

Protoplasm 13 

Ptyalin 21 

Quality of butter 188 

Quality of milk 176 



PAGE 

Rape for sheep 231 

in pork making 151 

to supplement pasture 291 

Ration and starch values 89 

Ration, balanced 57 

changes with age 127 

compared on basis of cost.... 109 

computation of 63 

making a 66 

selection of, for horses 167 

the cost of 107 

widening of 129 

Rations, three kinds of 63 

Raw materials changed by ani- 
mals 11 

how converted 10 

Rennet 24 

Requirements for work 153 

Respiration 28 

Reticulum 22 

Root hair, cross section 2 

Roots fine for sheep 228 

Roughage for horses 163 

Roughage materials 123 

Rumen 22 

Saliva 21 

Salt for cows 191 

Sap currents IS 

Scrub animals 30 

Sheep, fattening grown 236 

feeding of 223 

how often to feed 230 

on full rations 232 

relative economy of 225 

roots fine for C28 

roughage feeds for 231 

temporary fences for 232 

variety of food for 226 

water for 229 

Silage 277 

cost of making 284 

crops for 2^3 

cutting corn for 2*^4 

economy in 278 

feeding 282 

Silicon 3 

Silo 277 

building the 2'='5 

calculating size of 2«0 

capacity of ; 278 

essentials of good 279 

filling the 281 

various types of 286 

Skim milk calves 204 

Slop for hogs 247 

Sodium 3 

Soiling, advantages of 297 

objections to 298 

suggestions for scheme 299 

Soiling crops in favor 292 

Soiling system, the 289 



2>2^^ 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Sow, at pigging time 151 

exercise for brood 152 

food for brood 149 

Soy beans, double good from... 8 

Stable management or cows 191 

Stallion, feeding the 167 

Standards 58,61,328 

for farm animals 60,61,328 

in practical work 72 

Starch 13 

as the standard nutrient 82 

how plants use 14 

Starch cells 15 

Starch, relative value of 83 

Starch value 82 

actual and calculated 85 

computing rations on basis of. 89 

how to obtain 84 

illustrated 82 

in relation to feeding stand- 
ards 88 

in relation to food requirements 89 

Steer, character of good 200 

Steers, computing a ration for. . 100 



PAGE 

Stomach 22 

Stomach, cow's 23 

Stomach secretion 24 

Stomata 4 

Sugar 19 

Sulphur 3 

Swine, feeding of 241 

Teeth 21,22 

Tuberculin test 192 

Units for measuring heat 94 

Veal 206 

Villi cells 26,27 

Water 18, 37, 40, 41 

Water for cows 191 

Water, giving to horses 160 

Water in growing plants 17 

Watering, regularity in 162 

Weaned chicks 263 

Wheat, grain of 34 

Wild cattle seldom fat 198 

Wolff-Lehmann standards 61 

Work, requirements for 158 

Work, requirements for horses.. 100 



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